As Disney Plus celebrates Pride, its parent is hit with sexual orientation discrimination suit

The logo of the online video library Disney+ is shown on the display of a smartphone. | Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Even as Disney’s marquee streaming service celebrates Pride Month with a prominently positioned carousel of LGBTQ+ titles on its homepage, the company has found itself at the center of a sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit brought by an executive employee.

The complaint (PDF), as reported earlier by Deadline, was filed today in a California superior court on behalf of television executive Joel Hopkins, lawyers confirmed to The Verge. Hopkins had been with the company since 1994. The suit alleges that around the time that he was promoted to vice president of production finance for Touchstone Television in 2000, it became known that Hopkins identified as gay.

At this time, despite his tenure and previous promotions within the...

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