Medieval Times faces lawsuits alleging animal cruelty, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, bullying, doxxing and retaliation from former employees at its castles. For 43 years, Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament performers across North America have captivated audiences as jousting knights and bejeweled ladies on horseback. But now the company’s own castle is under siege as former employees allege in lawsuits that the company shrouds a culture of animal cruelty, sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and retaliation for reporting abuse. At the shows, guests dine on what’s billed as a medieval-style feast, as they cheer on armor-clad knights, who participate in a tournament on horseback and battle with swords. The chain established its first location in Kissimmee, Florida, near Orlando, in 1983. The company now employs more than 2,000 at 10 "castles" in the United States and Canada. William Elliot III, 35, assistant head knight and former magician in Las Vegas, makes the grand entrance as the red knight, along with fellow knights during a show at Medieval Times in Buena Park on Friday, June 28, 2013. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) MEDIEVAL-THEMED LIVE SHOWS DRAW YOUNG WOMEN WHO ARE LOOKING FOR LOVE AND JADED BY MODERN DATING: REPORT The theater’s show champions the "chivalry" of their knights. But some who work alongside those performers say the culture is biased against female cast members. A former "queen" of the castle is now suing the company, alleging a workplace environment "rooted in gender discrimination and sexual harassment." Another whistleblower alleged that she was fired for voicing concerns about animal cruelty . FORMER DISNEY CHANNEL STAR ALLEGES SHE WAS SEXUALLY ABUSED AT 14 AFTER BEING TOLD TO ‘BOND’ WITH EMPLOYEE A civil lawsuit was filed in June by a former cast member of the Buena Park, California, castle. She alleges a hostile work environment with widespread sexual harassment. Kaitlyn Farrell resigned in February 2024 because of "intolerable" conditions after joining the company as a "queen" five years earlier, according to the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California, in Orange County. The "two-tiered workplace culture" treats female cast members as "a lesser class of employee," she said in the lawsuit. Farrell alleges that unwanted sexual advances toward female employees are "normalized" and "gender-based misconduct" and that complaints are "dismissed" with "indifference." While working at Medieval Times, she was asked to be a witness in a workplace harassment investigation for another employee. That made her the "target of open retaliation by the very employee she reported on," her lawsuit alleges. Management stood by and did nothing, she said. On another occasion, according to the lawsuit, a manager ordered someone to "remove stitching" from her costumes, what she calls a "calculated sabotage" that was "maliciously intended to cause wardrobe malfunctions in front of live audiences." After employees unionized at the Buena Park location, and she participated in a strike in February 2023, Farrell said she became the "primary target of an extreme, sexualized cyberbullying and doxxing campaign." Brandon Sanchez, who plays a knight, protests outside Medieval Times in Buena Park, California, on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Performers picketed the Buena Park castle after launching an unfair labor practice strike against management. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images) Anonymous social media accounts with "obvious indications" of employee or management involvement posted content such as her dating history, sexually derogatory captions and photoshopped images with her face "on the bodies of semi-nude cartoon characters depicted in simulated sexual positions," the lawsuit alleges. DISNEYLAND, ACTORS' UNION CLASH OVER PARENTAL LEAVE, BENEFITS AS UNION NEGOTIATES FIRST CONTRACT The harassment escalated to physical stalking when Medieval T
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