UPDATE: Despite The Hollywood Reporter reporting that Muhammad has voiced the character since 2010, it has been brought to our attention that Muhammad voiced the character from 2012-2015, and Laya DeLeon Hayes has voiced Doc since 2015.
Previously reported: If you don’t know, I love me some Doc McStuffins. The Disney animated series set a new bar for representation on television for young black girls. But apparently, there is some funny business going on with the money right now, and that’s not a good look.
Anitra Muhammad filed a lawsuit on behalf of her daughter Kiara, who voices the Doc. The suit claims that the young actress has not received her fair share of merchandise revenue from the hit Disney Junior show. Worst of all, Kiara has been on single-day contracts with the company since 2010.
The company would require Kiara to sign a new contract each day before recording, then at the end of each day, terminate employment. In the suit, Muhammad’s mother says that suggestion to enter into an employment agreement was proposed on their end multiple times, to no avail.
There’s also the accusation that Kiara Muhammad wasn’t paid in a timely fashion either. Her first season pay was a flat rate of $5,000. In the second season Muhammad negotiated 2.5 percent of merchandising revenue in exchange for rights to the use of her name, voice and likeness. Because they haven’t been paid for those rights, the Muhammads are suing for breach of contract.
There hasn’t yet been any comment or statement released by Disney or a representative of the company.
It’s hard to believe that a company who brought us so much childhood joy would do Doc McStuffins wrong. But if that’s the case, they need to put some respeck on her name as soon as possible and sort this out. Did they not see what happened with Wayne and Baby?
