It is said that the legal woe with the longtime MCU actress is the implication of the months-long rift between the former Disney CEO and his successor Bob Chapek.
- Aug 3, 2021
AceShowbiz - Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit over missed royalties on "Black Widow" has reportedly left at least one Disney exec ashamed. Bob Iger, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, is said to be mortified that the actress ended up suing the company.
Iger, who was the CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 2005-2020, discovered the lawsuit "mortifying," according to TheWrap. He reportedly blames his successor Bob Chapek for it, thinking that the current CEO and the corporate "bungled it."
In fact, Iger and Chapek don't get along well and the legal woe with Johansson may be an implication of the months-long rift between the two, so the site notes. It is said that Disney Govt Chairman Iger and CEO Chapek have been estranged for months and they don't work together repeatedly.
"It appears that evidently Iger both deliberately allowed Chapek to shoot himself within the foot with Johansson's group by failing to step in and negotiate an alternative choice to a lawsuit," so the news outlet speculates, adding, "or that he's so disconnected from his successor that he was not within the loop to step in as he often would."
However, an official at the company has debunked it. Responding to the story, Disney's chief communications officer Zenia Mucha writes in an e-mail to the site, "None of that is true interval."
Johansson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, July 29, accusing Disney chiefs of ignoring her contract to win subscribers for their streaming platform. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the actress' representatives tried to renegotiate her contract after learning of Disney bosses' plans to release "Black Widow" in theatres and on Disney+ but claim "Disney and Marvel were unresponsive."
Disney later fired back, with a spokesperson for the company calling the lawsuit "especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Responding to Disney's statement, the Natasha Romanoff decpiter called out the Mouse House. "They have shamelessly and falsely accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the global COVID pandemic, in an attempt to make her appear to be someone they and I know she isn't," said CAA heavyweight Bryan Lourd, who is in the agency representing the "Avengers: Endgame" star.
