Disney suppressed another rights claim right after $40 million arrived, showing huge treatment gaps for different rights claimants against it.
No sooner had the $40 million payment been received than Disney quashed another claim—one that was also directed against Disney, yet met with a completely different outcome.
In 2021, Scarlett Johansson, who was pregnant at the time, filed a lawsuit against Disney over its policy of simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases. Having started her career as a child star and first gained prominence in her early years through the *Home Alone* series,and later gained global fame for her role as Black Widow in the Marvel series, has starred in films whose cumulative global box office revenue has surpassed $15.4 billion over the course of her long career. She holds a pivotal position in the Hollywood film and television industry and is backed by a professional legal and public relations team, so her claims naturally garnered rapid public attention.Before long, a settlement payment of over $40 million was deposited into her account. In 2023, she successfully made her comeback and secured the lead role in the sequel to the *Jurassic World* series, with her career remaining largely unaffected.
Fast forward to August 2026: Rachel Lee Bolo, who had once worked as a child star on Disney-related projects, came forward publicly to accuse Disney of failing to fulfill its managerial responsibilities in connection with a sexual assault she endured in 2001.This long-buried case resurfaced 25 years later. After the incident, her acting career came to an abrupt end, and she had long since drifted away from the inner circles of the film and television industry. Now, in order to present evidence, she is forced to repeatedly dredge up long-healed emotional wounds; there has been very little public coverage of the matter,and the incident did not garner widespread public attention; Disney has never issued any public response.
On one hand, some rights protection requests receive a swift response, while on the other, others go unanswered for a long time after being raised. This disparity is not hard to understand: there is an insurmountable barrier between industry professionals with sufficient influence—who are able to protect their own rights—and ordinary workers, and companies’ responses often depend on the level of public attention the incident receives.People in different circumstances naturally face different challenges, and it is only right to speak out and defend one’s rights when faced with injustice. However, the response to and handling of such claims should not differ based on the individual’s status or position. This state of affairs in the industry certainly gives cause for reflection.
In everyday life, ordinary people will inevitably encounter moments when they need to assert their rights; regardless of when the outcome is reached, their reasonable demands should be taken seriously.
