Behind the jousting matches and turkey legs at Medieval Times, a string of former performers say they endured a frat-like culture of sexual harassment, retaliation and mistreatment of the horses that star in the show. The dinner-theater chain, which operates 10 castles across North America and draws an estimated 2.5 million guests a year, is now facing a pending lawsuit from a former queen, years of labor board findings against it, and a nine-month strike that ended without a contract.
Former stable hand Erin Zapcic put it bluntly: “I couldn’t stand by while they mistreated us and the animals,” she said, according to Vanity Fair, which reported that former workers described a culture of sexual harassment and horse abuse across the chain. The outlet detailed a labor dispute that touched unionization drives at two castles, multiple lawsuits, and claims of both sexual harassment and animal mistreatment, alongside the nine-month strike. Pay for stable hands reportedly started around $16.75 an hour, while Zapcic earned $21.50 and fellow stable worker Jake Bowman made $18.50, per the same report.
Bowman’s job came with its own physical risks. He fractured his lumbar spine after being kicked by a horse while working at the Dallas castle, Vanity Fair reported — a reminder of the demands behind a show in which knights astride quarter horses compete in scripted 11th-century games while servers deliver a four-course meal.
A Queen’s Lawsuit Alleges Sabotage and Dismissed Complaints
Former Buena Park queen Kate Farrell has sued Medieval Times over alleged sexual harassment, retaliation and gender discrimination, according to the New York Post. Farrell said everyone dated everyone at the castle and that relationships could get messy, and she alleged that a knight once pushed her against her car and pressed his hand on her crotch, the Post reported.
Farrell’s complaint goes further, alleging a supervisor explicitly ordered a subordinate to remove the stitching from her performance dresses to cause wardrobe malfunctions in front of live audiences, according to The Independent. The complaint also alleges that unwanted romantic advances toward female cast members were normalized, and that the company’s legal counsel dismissed reports of cyberbullying and stalking, stating Medieval Times would take no action regarding the sexual harassment and the physical stalking incident, the outlet reported.
Other former employees described similar dynamics. Lexi-Lynn Taylor said she was slut-shamed after kissing someone at a Christmas party and said many knights harassed and inappropriately touched her, with one performer refusing to accept her refusal, the Post reported. A former Scottsdale employee said the company moved an accused harasser to another department and increased his pay after a coworker reported harassment in 2020, and said poor behavior was nearly rewarded on multiple occasions, according to the same report.
Hazing and Horse Mistreatment Claims
Staff at multiple castles described new hires facing hazing in a fraternity-like locker-room culture, the Post reported. Purnell Thompson, who worked for years in the stables at the Garden State location, said a pseudo-fraternity culture existed, while former Lyndhurst lord chancellor Sean Quigley claimed knights pulled down their pants and waited for someone to come around the corner. A former Scottsdale employee said he was forced to run in sand until vomiting during his first two weeks on the job, per the Post.
Former workers also said trainers often mistreated horses, and stable hand Sidney Setzer claimed horses returned with visible raised welts on their hindquarters from whipping before she quit due to physical exhaustion, according to the Post. In an earlier case, Bethany Regan alleged in a 2019 lawsuit that a trainer unnecessarily whipped horses, causing injuries and contributing directly to a horse’s death; that lawsuit was settled out of court in 2020, the Post reported.
Years of Union Fights and Labor Rulings
The allegations arrive against the backdrop of a long-running labor fight. Workers at Buena Park and Lyndhurst organized unions in 2022 over pay and working conditions and joined the American Guild of Variety Artists, with Buena Park becoming the second Medieval Times castle to unionize after the New Jersey location did so in July, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported that Buena Park workers voted 27 to 18 to unionize. Knights there could earn roughly $19 to $29 an hour depending on experience, while stable hands and trumpet players made closer to $16, and knights routinely threw themselves off horses traveling about 25 miles per hour during the show, the Times reported.
Buena Park employees walked out in February 2023, and Medieval Times flew in performers from other castles to replace the striking staff, the Post reported. Zapcic said thousands of people crossed the picket line daily over the nine months of the strike and insulted the strikers, according to the same report. Performers earned an average of $18 to $19 an hour at the time and were seeking $25 an hour, according to the Orange County Register, which reported the strike ended when performers returned to work on November 22, 2023, without a contract.
Zapcic told the AFL-CIO, “Our fight’s not over,” saying the roughly 30 queens, trumpet players, chancellors, knights and squires would keep pushing for higher wages and better conditions. Some employees who returned afterward said they faced hostility and role changes, and Zapcic said coworkers relentlessly harassed and retaliated against employees, according to the Post. The union never secured a contract at Buena Park.
Union Effort Collapses, NLRB Finds Violations
By 2024, the American Guild of Variety Artists had reportedly stepped away from the union effort after a large number of the Medieval Times personnel who had voted for representation left the company, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times reported that workers involved in the union alleged intimidation and retaliation by managers during and after the nine-month strike, and that Zapcic alleged the company changed workers’ shifts and assigned physically demanding tasks, including shoveling horse manure for hours at a time.
Separately, an NLRB administrative law judge found that Medieval Times violated federal labor law in disciplining and discharging knight Christopher Lucas in retaliation for his union support, and found the company also violated labor law by filing a trademark lawsuit against the union and its members with a retaliatory motive, according to an NLRB administrative law decision. That trademark lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in federal court on September 28, 2023, after the court found it did not plausibly establish a likelihood of consumer confusion, per the same decision. A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled in 2025 that Medieval Times violated federal labor law while trying to defeat the union campaign, and the Post reported that the company has appealed that ruling.
Not every labor complaint against the company has succeeded. A separate retaliation complaint involving Lyndhurst knight Marcus Vere was dismissed in a January 29, 2026 decision, with an administrative law judge concluding that the General Counsel did not prove the alleged violations, according to the NLRB decision. That same record noted that Medieval Times substantially increased enforcement of attendance and performance rules beginning in late 2023, resulting in well over one hundred instances of employee coaching across departments, including 13 formal coachings, 11 written warnings and six final warnings in the Knights Department alone — a department that had no formal discipline on record before that period. The Lyndhurst show employs more than 100 workers across 12 departments, including knights, stables, horse trainers and cast, per the decision. The Post reported that Medieval Times did not respond to its request for comment.
