Photo: Mark Ashman (Getty Images)
Happy Pride month to Disney! The celebration got started this year with a sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit, filed by VP Production Finance at ABC Signature Joel Hopkins, on the very first day of Pride.
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The case seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, and various lawsuit costs. Hopkins says he has repeatedly been denied promotions which he believes was due to his sexual orientation. Hopkins began his career at Disney in 1994, as Director of Production Finance for Buena Vista Television. Over the next six years he was promoted twice, once to Vice President of Production Finance for Touchstone Television and then again to his current position. However, after his final promotion, Hopkins’ sexuality as a gay man became known to Jim Hedges, the CFO of ABC and Hopkins’ direct supervisor. That’s when he says the promotions stalled and his career was placed on a road to nowhere.
A-listers speak out against Hollywoodâs systemic racism, colourism and discrimination
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Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have at one point or another experienced some level of systemic racism, colourism and discrimination.
Weâve seen this play out all too often at prestigious award ceremonies, too.
Back in 2016, Will Smith boycotted the Oscars for its lack of diversity.
This was on the back of all the acting nominees being white for the second year in a row.
In his interview with âGood Morning Americaâ, he explained: âWe re part of this community. But at this current time, we re uncomfortable to stand there and say, âThis is okayâ.â
May 25, 2021, 3:06 p.m. ET
Credit.Illustration by Frank Augugliaro
By Paula Chakravartty and Ajantha Subramanian
Dr. Chakravartty is a professor of media and communication at New York University who has written extensively about race, migration and labor in the United States and India. Dr. Subramanian is a professor of anthropology and South Asian studies at Harvard University and has written extensively about caste and democracy in India.
Caste is not well understood in the United States, even though it plays a significant role in the lives of Americans of South Asian descent. Two recent lawsuits make caste among the South Asian diaspora much more visible. They show that oppressed castes in the United States are doubly disadvantaged by caste and race. Making caste a protected category under federal law
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