Bill Nye files lawsuit against Disney, alleges profits totaling $28 million were withheld from him

Bill Nye, whose Bill Nye the Science Guy live-action science show ran from 1993 to 1998, has filed a massive lawsuit claiming Disney owes him $9 million. According to Vanity Fair, in the lawsuit, Nye has stated that he was entitled to 16.5% of the profits from the show. However, Disney’s Buena Vista Television allegedly withheld profits amounting to a whopping $28 million from Nye. [caption id=“attachment_3982747” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bill Nye in Bill Nye the Science Guy. Image from Twitter.[/caption] In the 28 page suit, posted online by Deadline, Nye has alleged breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraudulent concealment among other charges. According to the documents, Nye had received a cheque of  $585,000, as part of the profits. However, Buena Vista Television, withdrew its previous compensation, citing an accounting mistake. They went on to ask for another $496,111 from the presenter, in return, for apparently having over-compensated him. Disney has deemed the action a “publicity ploy” in a statement given to Deadline and announced plans to engage in vehement defense of their organisation. Nye has further claimed that he stopped receiving his share after 2008 because the book-keepers of Buena Vista TV insisted he pay up the amount that was wrongly credited to him. Nye has claimed that he was supposed to get $9.4 million as his fare share from the proceeds of his popular show. However, Disney allegedly managed to conceal the actual profits from him, so as to, escape paying him.