Former crewmembers on Doctor Odyssey have sued 20th Television and parent company Disney over alleged sexual harassment and retaliation on the set of the medical drama.
Caroline Mack, Alicia Haverland and Ava Steinbrenner, in a lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claim they were targets of an “unchecked campaign of sexual harassment” in which their supervisor bombarded them with sexual comments and unwanted touching. They say they were ultimately fired after they complained of the alleged misconduct to management.
The plaintiffs reported to assistant prop master Tyler Patton, whose supervisor was his wife Tammie Patton. Tyler Patton was previously involved in a lawsuit from a former Universal Network Television employee, who advanced sexual harassment and retaliation allegations on the set of House. In that complaint, the employee Carl Jones claimed Patton groped his genitals and invited women from various production departments to engage in sexual activity.
The lawsuit details a culture on the set of Doctor Odyssey in which Tyler Patton, who’s not named as a defendant in the complaint, and his male colleagues repeatedly commented on their sexual preferences, with the intention of watching women in their orbit react uncomfortably to the commentary.
In one incident, Tyler Patton allegedly referred to one of the former crewmembers as “mumbles” and told her to “swallow the cum before you talk.” Another involved him asking aloud to other employees why “no one had broke her” yet, the lawsuit claims. He regularly responded to benign statements with “that’s what she said,” a sexual joke popularized from The Office, the complaint stated.
The complaint claims that Tyler Patton regularly texted others pornographic materials, grabbed women crewmembers’ butts, placed his arm around their necks and gave lingering hugs.
The lawsuit alleges that Tyler Patton texted the props department, including his wife, prop master Tammie Patton, a link appearing to reference a new story that former President Joe Biden was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. When they clicked, the crewmembers say they were directed to a webpage showing a naked male with an erect penis. Tyler Patton subsequently walked away and allegedly exclaimed, “If I wasn’t fucking the boss, I’d be fired.”
Mack later reported the incident to the human resources department and her union, which confirmed that 20th Century and Disney were aware of the alleged misconduct, the lawsuit says. This included complaints of the production mishandling replica firearms.
Tyler Patton was terminated shortly after the complaint was issued, says the lawsuit, which notes that Tammie Patton started to retaliate against the plaintiffs by assigning them demeaning tasks and threatening their employment. The entire props department, outside of Tyler Patton’s replacement, was later laid off in response to continuing complaints.
20th “then almost immediately hired a whole new set of employees to replace Plaintiffs and other Props Department employees for the Dr. 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.”
Since then, the plaintiffs claim they’ve been blacklisted from working on 20th and Disney productions.
The lawsuit brings claims for sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and negligent hiring, among other claims. It seeks unspecified damages.
20th and Disney didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The first-year drama from 20th and Ryan Murphy Television, starring Joshua Jackson as a cruise-ship physician, remains in limbo as the only current ABC scripted series still awaiting word on its future.
