Emma Thompson is speaking out about her decision to quit a film project in protest of John Lasseter's hiring.
Thompson in a letter to Skydance explained why she dropped out of the studio's upcoming animated movie Luck following its hiring of Lasseter, who departed as Disney Animation's chief creative officer after being accused of sexual harassment. Thompson shared it with The Los Angeles Times.
"It feels very odd to me that you and your company would consider hiring someone with Mr. Lasseter's pattern of misconduct given the present climate in which people with the kind of power that you have can reasonably be expected to step up to the plate," she writes.
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Thompson acknowledges that Skydance employees have been assured that Lasseter will act in a professional manner, but she asks, "If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he's not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract he must behave 'professionally'?" Women working for Lasseter have no reason to believe any professional behavior he does exhibit isn't simply "an act that he's required to perform," Thompson also argues.
Thompson lamented that women who don't wish to give Lasseter a "second chance" have to lose their jobs, asking, "shouldn't it be John Lasseter who has to lose his job if the employees don't want to give him a second chance?" The actress said she hopes this makes her "level of discomfort understandable," explaining she regrets having to leave the project but that "I can only do what feels right" and that people like her must "take this sort of a stand" in order to ensure change for "my daughter's generation."
Read the full letter at the Los Angeles Times.
