Emma Thompson refused to work with John Lasseter as she wants to "protect [her] daughter's generation".
Emma Thompson
The 59-year-old actress recently dropped out of upcoming animated film 'Luck' as she was"concerned" about working with Lasseter, 62, who has become the new head of Skydance Animation following his departure as the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar and Disney Animation after acknowledging "missteps" in his behavior with employees.
The 'Sense and Sensibility' star has now revealed that she took a stand against the animator in a bid to change "centuries of entitlement" over women's bodies and suggested that John's apology was superfluous and she wanted to show her aspiring actress daughter Gaia that this behaviour is never acceptable.
In a lengthy letter to Skydance Media, published by the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Emma said: "If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he's not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave 'professionally'?"
The 'Nanny McPhee' star - who is married to actor Greg Wise - then referenced past allegations against the filmmaker and questioned whether his behaviour towards females in the industry now is be "anything other than an act he's required to perform".
She continued: "The message seems to be, 'I'm learning to feel respect for women so please be patient while I work on it, it's not easy.'
"I am well aware that centuries of entitlement to women's bodies whether they like it or not is not going to change overnight. Or in a year.
"But I am also aware that if people who have spoken out - like me - do not take this sort of a stand then things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter's generation."
Lasseter left Pixar and Disney after taking a six-month sabbatical from the company in November 2017 following accusations of sexual misconduct. In June 2018, Disney announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the year when his contract expired, but would work in a consultant role until then.
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