A scareactor from the now closed Walking Dead attraction in Universal Hollywood is alleging physical and sexual assault whilst working the former attraction. The report by a number of sites states that the scareactors allege they were groped and physically threatened whilst working the now defunct attraction, with the theme park reportedly nothing doing anything (or very little) to stop it.
Kurt Logan filed a lawsuit against the company this past week with the Los Angeles Superior Court saying that he was personally punched by guests and saw a number of female scareactors be groped and sexually assaulted in the horror maze. “Universal actually incites its guests to fight the employees,” the lawsuit states.
A Universal Studios Hollywood spokesperson declined to respond to the specific allegations, they were reported as saying : “We don’t comment on pending litigation, however, the safety and security of our employees and guests is always our top priority,”
The attraction is now closed, with some online whispers being that this pending court case was the ‘nail in the coffin’ for the attraction. An attraction that was reportedly set to return for their HHN this fall; though that is now surely in doubt.
The case notes that the majority of badly behaved guests were those that were possibly drunk. Logan alleges he was punched in the face in July 2019 and then again by different persons in the August of the same year. In January another drunken guest supposedly punched him in the stomach, for which he reported it to his supervisor and was reportedly told to take a break and then just go back to work.
The case reports that a number of female scareactors had their breasts and buttocks groped. Scareactor Lisa Molenda who was working within a cage inside the attraction had a guest grab her breast. She reportedly told her manager about the incident but was supposedly told that she “could have done to better protect herself.”
Another scareactor, Josiah Steele, was reportedly hospitalized after a guest punched him so hard that he was knocked to the ground. He supposedly took the matter further with Universal but they informed him that “most performers don’t press charges.” The case also states that complaints by team members about their safety with guests inside this attraction go back 2 years.
Team Members and guest safety should be paramount during any experience such as this. We must all play our part to report, ban and prosecute any persons who assault any team members or guests.