A former Disney Channel child actress says she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a Disney worker while filming a movie in 2001, and that when her behavior changed afterward, studio executives blamed her instead of investigating what happened. Raquel Lee, who was 14 years old at the time, has now filed a court complaint alleging Disney was negligent in connection with the abuse.
Lee's complaint centers on the production of "The Poof Point," a Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered in 2001, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported details of the lawsuit. Per that report, an unnamed Disney worker groomed Lee, used hugs to get physically close to her, whispered sexually explicit and harassing comments into her ear, and made explicit remarks about her body. The worker also allegedly made sexually explicit jokes and commentary on set around minors.
The alleged abuse was not confined to the set itself. According to the outlet's reporting, the same worker assaulted Lee in a hotel room in Salt Lake City and again on a flight back to Los Angeles. Lee was separated from her on-set guardian for the vast majority of each day, the complaint states, leaving her isolated during much of the production.
State Law Requires Guardians and Studio Teachers on Set
California regulations set a clear standard for productions employing minors under 16. Under Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Department of Industrial Relations requires a state-certified studio teacher to attend to a child performer's health, safety, and morals, while a parent or guardian must remain within sight or sound of the minor at all times. A studio teacher holds the legal authority to pull a child off set if those standards are compromised.
Lee's complaint contends that Disney failed to intervene during the alleged misconduct despite those safeguards, and that her experience reflected a long pattern at the company rather than an isolated incident, per the Hollywood Reporter's account. The lawsuit alleges Disney was negligent in connection with the on-set abuse she says she endured at 14.
Executives Accused of Blaming Lee for Her Own Trauma
Rather than investigating, Disney executives accused Lee of being out of control and causing the movie to go haywire, the complaint alleges. Executives are also accused of attacking her changed behavior and trauma response, and of accusing her of engaging in sex acts with a crew member when she was 14 years old. In one especially stark allegation, executives accused Lee of needing Jesus and having a demon inside her.
Lee reportedly experienced a noticeable decline in professional performance following the alleged abuse, and Disney later canceled her role in a forthcoming production, according to the same report. Disney has declined to comment on the pending litigation.
A Legal Window Built for Decades-Old Claims
The lawsuit is possible because of California Assembly Bill 2777, known as the Sexual Abuse Cover-Up Accountability Act, which took effect on January 1, 2023. The law, which amended Civil Code Section 340.16, opened a temporary civil window allowing survivors to sue entity defendants over past sexual abuse and institutional cover-ups even after the statute of limitations would normally have expired, according to the Dordulian Law Group. That statutory window is what allows Lee's decades-old allegations to move forward in court now.
Lee is represented by attorney Doug Wigdor, a prominent trial lawyer whose past clients include Cassie Ventura in her 2023 lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Nafissatou Diallo in her allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Wigdor has also represented multiple women alleging misconduct by Harvey Weinstein, according to Wigdor LLP. Wigdor declined to comment on the litigation.
A Long History With Disney and a Prior Reckoning
Lee's ties to Disney stretch back years beyond the alleged abuse. She recurred as a voiceover artist on The Proud Family beginning in 2001 and later participated in Disney+'s reboot, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, according to the Hollywood Reporter's reporting. She also appeared on FX's Snowfall in 2019.
Lee's allegations arrive against the backdrop of a broader reckoning over how youth television handled child performers in the late 1990s and 2000s. In 2024, Lee participated in the docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, reflecting on her treatment as a Black performer on Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show — a project Hoodline previously covered for its wider revelations about child-actor mistreatment. Per Salon, Lee described watching Drake Bell discuss on-set sexual abuse during that same period as retraumatizing.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Disney Litigation
Lee's lawsuit lands amid a string of other civil cases against Disney entities working through Southern California and Florida courts. Just last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied Disney's request to move a former Disneyland employee's discrimination lawsuit to Orange County, keeping that trial in downtown Los Angeles. Other recent filings include a wrongful death lawsuit over a fatal choking incident at a Disney Springs restaurant and a negligence lawsuit alleging a severe bed bug infestation at a Disney World resort. Together, the cases illustrate the range of duty-of-care and negligence claims Disney entities are currently facing in civil court, though each case involves distinct facts and allegations.
