⁠What are 20th Century Studios and Disney accused of? Former Doctor Odyssey crew members file lawsuit over alleged s*xual harassment and blacklisting

Former props department crew members of the ABC medical drama, Doctor Odyssey, are suing Disney and 20th Television for allegedly subjecting them to s*xual harassment on set.

Deadline has reported that three such individuals are claiming that the network's parent company and the producer of Doctor Odyssey terminated their contracts when they pushed back on the alleged harassment.

The suit was filed this Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, and it lists Caroline Mack, Alicia Haverland, and Ava Steinbrenner as the plaintiffs. They joined the show in the summer of 2024, with Tammie Patton serving as Prop Master, and her husband, Tyler Patton, as Assistant Prop Master. The latter two were in charge of the plaintiffs at the time.

The case against Disney and 20th Television explored, as claims emerge that they turned a blind eye to an abuser on Doctor Odyssey:

According to Variety, Disney and 20th Television are being sued for allegedly enabling an “unchecked campaign of s*xual harassment for months” on the set of Doctor Odyssey.

It accuses Patton of subjecting the three women to “s*xual jokes, innuendos, comments, s*xual gestures and images” as well as “unwanted touching,” such as “openly grabbing a visiting female employee’s buttocks.”

In one instance outlined in the suit, Patton allegedly sent his employees a link that referenced President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 election at the time. However, upon clicking it, the alleged victims were redirected to a lewd image of a man.

In another instance, he allegedly called one of the victims a "chick" and suggested that she “come over here and open your mouth, here’s the worm.”

The suit also accuses Tammie, in addition to Disney, of hiring her husband with “knowledge that prior allegations of s*xual harassment had been lodged” against him. Variety has reported that they were referring to a 2010 lawsuit against Universal Network Television, which named Patton.

At the time, it accused him of extreme s*xual harassment and allegations of retaliation on the set of House. In the lawsuit, former employee Carl Jones claimed that Patton would grope himself and make inappropriate advances towards his female colleagues from various production departments.

The newest lawsuit speaks to an alleged culture perpetrated on the set of Doctor Odyssey by Patton, who has not been named as a defendant in the complaint, and his male co-workers. It accuses them of repeatedly passing loud remarks about their s*xual preferences to make the women next to them uncomfortable.

Apart from regularly making lewd comments, Patton would also allegedly respond to mundane statements with “that’s what she said,” which is an adult joke made popular by The Office, the complaint stated, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As reported by Deadline, the behaviors listed in the lawsuit allegedly included:

“S*xual jokes, innuendos, comments, s*xual gestures and images, and unwanted touching including, but not limited to: (i) regularly giving Plaintiffs unwanted, lingering hugs; (ii) touching one of the Plaintiff’s thighs; (iii) frequently placing his hands on one of the Plaintiff’s lower back; (iv) placing his arms around Plaintiffs’ necks and forcing them to “walk with him;” and (v) openly grabbing a visiting female employee’s buttocks on set.”

The lawsuit claims that 20th Century and Disney were aware of the alleged ongoing misconduct. While Patton was eventually terminated, his wife began retaliating against the alleged victims by handing them degrading work and threatening to fire them.

20th “then almost immediately hired a whole new set of employees to replace Plaintiffs and other Props Department employees for the Doctor Odyssey Season 1 project,” states the complaint. “Clearly, no ‘lay off’ had occurred. Instead, Defendants wiped the Prop Department’s slate clean to avoid having to deal with any remaining employee-relations issues tied to Tyler Patton’s and Tammie Patton’s misconduct.”

As for how Human Resources intervened, here's what the complaint states:

“Even though Defendants’ Human Resources Department and Senior Management assigned to Doctor Odyssey were fully aware of Tyler Patton’s inappropriate behavior and the retaliation his wife/Plaintiffs’ boss Tammie Patton engaged in, they took no action to prevent it. In fact, Defendants’ human resources was asleep at the wheel and permitted the frustrated managers/producers on set to handle these conflicts on their own. This led to Plaintiffs suffering additional mistreatment, retaliation, and emotional distress.”

The plaintiffs claim that instead of Patton being penalized for his alleged behavior, the entire Doctor Odyssey props department had been fired in August, which, come September, had gone into full effect.

“Defendants took the ‘easy’ way out choosing to eliminate not only the wrongdoers — Prop Master Tammie Patton and Assistant Prop Master Tyler Patton — but all of the remaining employees in the Props Department who had been subject to the wrongdoers’ misconduct,” the suit says.

The plaintiffs are now also claiming they were wrongfully terminated, in addition to negligent hiring on the part of the parent and producing companies. It claims that Disney, Fox, and co-defendant Entertainment Partners all turned a blind eye to Patton's supposed misbehaviour.

“Notably, there was some overlap between employees on Dr. Odyssey and employees on the set of House,” the suit says.

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Deadline has reported that the plaintiffs are now looking for a jury trial. Doctor Odyssey is a Ryan Murphy show that stars Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson. It debuted its first season last year, and plans to pick it up for a second season are reportedly in motion.

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