‘Stop Thinking Of Disney As A Mickey Mouse Organization’: Two Ex-ESPN Employees Sue, Claim They Were Fired For Refusing Vaccine

Two former employees of ESPN are suing both the parent company The Walt Disney Company and the sports network. They claim that they were fired after refusing the COVID vaccination.

Allison Williams, a veteran reporter, and Beth Faber, a producer, claimed a religious exemption, but were fired later in 2021. They filed suit in Connecticut on Wednesday.

During the exchanges between Faber — a devout Catholic — and the Human Resources department at ESPN, the Lawsuit claims, the HR representative, Julie Walden, solicited the name of Faber’s parish representative “to discuss their opposition to vaccination, and what accommodation would be acceptable from a religious point of view.”

“I do not even know how to respond to this other than to say that my sincere personal religious beliefs are my OWN,” Faber was contacted. “My religious beliefs have grown, changed and evolved all of my life, as my relationship and connection with God continues to grow, change and strengthen. I do not expect to be cross examined or to have to bring in an ‘expert’ on my own personal religious beliefs for anyone to judge me or my belief in God’s will for me. My sincerely held religious beliefs preclude me from taking the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Walden sent Faber an email about a week later. “You have not provided sufficient documentation to support your accommodation request, and your request is denied,” According to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, for the fall 2021 season “no, or next to no, college football teams excluded the unvaccinated,” Citing ESPN reports, the author cites several ESPN reports that stated unvaccinated student athletes would be subject to surveillance testing, but no mention of a mandatory vaccination.

ESPN required Faber to be vaccinated by September 2, 2021. She was fired on September 9, 2021.

Williams was informed by her doctor in the summer of 2021 she needed to get a COVID or religious exemption prior to August 1, 2021. Her contract was extended to August 14th, 2021 on August 13th 2021. Williams applied to ESPN for an exemption form vaccinations on the grounds of disability, and was granted. “undergoing in vitro fertilization and was concerned about the potential unknown effects the vaccination would have on the fetus,” The lawsuit states.

Williams told ESPN that she hadn’t received vaccines since she was 12, when she experienced a severe reaction.

Williams was informed that her request for the COVID vaccine was denied in October 2021. Williams had one week to complete her COVID vaccination or be terminated. She declined to be vaccinated. She was fired on October 19, 2021.

“The September 9, 2021 termination of Beth Faber, exactly on, and of Allison Williams shortly after, the date of President Biden’s announcement of a business mandate, are more than just symbolic, they are part of a very orchestrated and choreographed partnership,” The lawsuit declares. “Defendants erred in their zeal to be the shining star of the government’s arsenal to implement vaccine mandates by going too far. … From every angle, whether the executives, the management staff, the highest paid pundit, it was a full court press, backed by the strength of the U.S. Defense Department on its Operation Warp Speed mission – a mission that engulfed, not only entwined the private company Disney, but engulfed it.”

“Perhaps we stop thinking of Disney as a Mickey Mouse operation and start recognizing it as a massive operation entwined and intertwined with the military and Defense Department, highly relevant to its treatment of the vaccine mandate and those who sought exemptions,” The lawsuit charges.

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