Over the years, Disney and Pixar have become a bastion of animation. The companies will go down in history for their innovative features from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to Toy Story. However, a new report is clouding their names and we have a disgraced animation to thank. New reports have confirmed Bolhem Bouchiba is awaiting trial in France on charges of child sex abuse.
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The report, which comes from Cartoon Brew, reveals the 59-year-old animator is awaiting trial in Paris. The animator, who was a key talent at Disney and Pixar through 2004, is accused of ordering hundreds of rapes. Authorities say Bouchiba ordered the assaults on young girls in the Philippines by way of live streaming.
BOLHEM BOUCHIBA AWAITS TRIAL IN FRANCE FOR SEX ABUSE
According to Le Figaro, one of France’s top newspapers, police began investigating Bouchiba in 2019. The group Europol noticed the animator was tied to suspicious fund transfers tied to the Philippines. As the team investigated, authorities learned Bouchiba was allegedly paying others to sexually abuse minors overseas. Investigators say the minors impacted were aged three to fifteen, and they believe as many “as a thousand children” were targeted.
Currently, Bouchiba is awaiting trial, but this case is not the first time the animator has been hit with In 2014, the artist was arrested and convicted of sexually assaulting the young daughter of his partner. During that case, investigators found that Bouchiba had viewed child pornography, and the case ended with the animator earning a suspended two-year sentence
As for his current case, Bouchiba faces up to 20 years in prison. In France, Le Figaro has earned major attention due to its graphic reporting on this case. In one instance, the report documents part of Bouchiba’s many interviews with police. It was there Bouchiba shared disturbing information about the sexual abuse he directed and how “scared” the victims were.
THE INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO BOUCHIBA’S HORRIFIC CRIMES
Bouchiba’s crimes are nothing short of monstrous, and Disney fans are eager to disavow the artist. In 1995, the artist began work at Disney with Runaway Brain before signing on to The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules as a key animator. In 1999, Bouchiba took point on Tarzan as one of its lead animators, and he worked on other projects like Lilo & Stitch. At Pixar, the disgraced animator did work on Ratatouille as well as The Incredibles and Up. Plus, Bouchiba had recent credits to his name through Soul, Luca, and Elemental.
Beyond Disney and Pixar, the animator worked with other companies like DreamWorks. Radford Sechrist, the creator of Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, recounted their upsetting history with Bouchiba. So of course, read on with caution:
“The more I sit and think about working with Bolhem the angrier I get. Before his first charge in 2014 he said to me “I loved having kids, all I care about is finding someone so I can have a kid again.” So he moved back to France specifically to have kids. Now I realize he was toying with me like a psychopath. Making me think he was a family man but he knew he meant something else. He’s only facing 20 years, but he had to have been doing more for years if he was saying stuff like that openly messing with people,” the artist shared.
“I used to look at him like this wise mentor but now when I think back on his face I feel like I’m seeing a demon with that little crooked smirk he always had.”
