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

   DailyWire.com
Allison Williams
Lance King/Getty Images

Two ex-ESPN employees are suing the sports network as well as its parent company The Walt Disney Company, claiming they were fired because they refused the COVID vaccine.

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

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 responded. “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.”

Roughly a week and a half later, Walden emailed Faber, “You have not provided sufficient documentation to support your accommodation request, and your request is denied,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit notes that for the fall 2021 season, “no, or next to no, college football teams excluded the unvaccinated,” and cites various ESPN reports that mentioned unvaccinated student-athletes would undergo surveillance testing but there was no mention of a mandatory vaccine.

By September 2, 2021, ESPN demanded Faber get vaccinated by September 8, 2021. On September 9, 2021, she was fired.

Williams was informed in the summer of 2021 that she was required to receive a COVID vaccination or receive a religious exemption by August 1, 2021. On August 13, 2021, her contract was extended to August 14, 2021. On August 13, 2021, Williams applied to ESPN for an exemption from vaccination on grounds of disability; she was “undergoing in vitro fertilization and was concerned about the potential unknown effects the vaccination would have on the fetus,” the lawsuit states.

Williams also told ESPN she had not received any vaccines since she was 12 when she had a bad reaction to getting one.

In mid-October 2021, Williams was informed her request was denied and she had one week to receive the COVID vaccine or she would be terminated. She chose not to be vaccinated. On October 19, 2021, she was fired.

“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.

Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids entertainment content.

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