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“False”: John Ridley Decries Discrimination & Retaliation Suit By Female Executive Against Him, Disney, ABC – Update


A former ABC director of development is taking the network, parent company Disney and John Ridley to court for gender, racial and economic discrimination and firing her when she complained about the alleged situation. Full disclosure: Oscar winner Ridley is the co-host of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast. In a nine-claim complaint filed today in LA […]

In a nine-claim complaint filed today in LA Superior Court ( read it here), Asta Jonasson says she was pink-slipped in 2022 after over a decade at ABC after putting her frequently mentioned grievances about being overlooked for promotions and under paid in writing. Over the more than six years she worked directly for Ridley and expressing dissatisfaction with her position and compensation, as well as the filmmaker’s attitudes, Jonasson and her Greenberg Gross attorneys declare “to her knowledge, ABC never attempted to investigate or remedy these complaints.” Listing off a litany of misconduct, including a professional associate of Ridley’s supposedly calling Jonasson a “b*tch” and the 12 Years A Slave screenplay scribe doing nothing about it, the plaintiff and her lawyers express a theory in the filing about what was really going on at IFPRPC for the woman of color.

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john ridley & abc