YouTube is pushing back against Disney’s lawsuit against the Alphabet-owned video platform for its hiring of Justin Connolly, arguing the executive is being used as a “pawn” to advance license renewal negotiations.
Connolly, who served as Disney’s platform distribution president and spent over two decades at the entertainment giant, exited the company last month to join YouTube as its global vice president of media and sports partnerships.
But Disney sued YouTube and Connolly in the state court in Los Angeles, alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with contractual relations and unfair competition. Per the complaint, Connolly signed a new three-year contract with Disney in November, which included a one-time right to terminate effective March 1, 2027, so long as he provided written notice no later than Dec. 31, 2026.
In a new court filing on Monday, the tech giant argued that Disney employed Connolly on an at-will basis and that an order requiring him to either “return to Disney to work against his will and/or to quit his new position at YouTube” is unlawful and “expressly prohibited by statute and other controlling California law.”
“Unsurprisingly, Disney does not cite a single instance of a California court awarding the relief it seeks, namely enjoining an employee like Mr. Connolly from working for the company of his choice, and requiring the employee to go back to work for his former employer,” YouTube’s lawyers wrote. “That is because no California court has ever issued such an injunction, nor, could a California court lawfully do so. Nor is emergency relief appropriate here when Disney has known for over six weeks that Mr. Connolly intended to leave Disney and join YouTube.”
YouTube noted that Connolly had already been working for the company for nearly two weeks when Disney filed its suit. It added that Disney will not suffer irreparable harm if Connolly is permitted to continue to work for them.
Since 2019, Connolly has been tasked with overseeing Disney’s third-party media sales efforts for distribution, affiliate-related business operations for all of its direct-to-consumer services and linear media networks and content sales agreements for Disney Entertainment and ESPN.
He first joined Disney in 2003 as director of ESPN strategy and operations and went on to serve in various roles including executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing, senior vice president of college networks and vice president of distribution strategy.
In a declaration filed with the court, Connolly said he stopped “leading or participating materially” in the current negotiations between Disney and YouTube in April and was replaced as the lead negotiator on that license. Similarly, other Disney executives had also taken over other ongoing negotiations with the company’s other partners.
“The very fact that Disney could and did so readily replace Mr. Connolly as a lead negotiator demonstrates that Mr. Connolly, despite his long history at Disney, does not provide services of a special, unique, unusual, extraordinary, or intellectual character,” YouTube said.
Per the YouTube filing, Google exchanged communications with Disney in April 2025 about its intent to hire Connolly, and that the company’s response back was “less than positive.” Disney asked for its renewal negotiations, which would normally not begin until around August 2025, to be prioritized by YouTube.
Google replied that it would be willing to move up the YouTube license renewal negotiations, but “could only do so if Mr. Connolly joined YouTube sooner rather than later,” noting that the earlier he joined and took over contract negotiations with other companies, the sooner YouTube could free up other employees to focus on the Disney license renewal.
“Disney did not respond to Google’s last communication, and did not offer Mr. Connolly any meaningful path to exit with Disney’s support,” YouTube said.
At YouTube, Connolly will oversee partnerships with major media companies, as well as sports leagues. His oversight will include distribution deals for YouTube TV, which has more than 8 million subscribers, and the company’s live sports portfolio.
The company noted in the filing that he will “not be involved in any capacity with YouTube’s license agreement negotiations with Disney” and that his offer letter “demands that he continue to adhere to his confidentiality obligations to Disney, and confirms he cannot bring, use or disclose any of Disney’s confidential or proprietary information during his work at YouTube.”
YouTube said that the employee agreement provision that purports to prohibit him from leaving Disney is “unconscionable” because ““Disney demanded that Mr. Connolly sign it, Mr. Connolly was not represented by counsel, and Disney had overwhelming bargaining power as compared to Mr. Connolly.” It also argued that Disney had “unfettered discretion” to terminate Connolly at any time and that there is “no justification for the one-sided nature of the termination right” in the agreement.
The California state court hearing the case has scheduled a hearing for June 4.
