Plaintiffs in a shareholder lawsuit over former Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz's $140 million severance package attempted Thursday to portray Ovitz as a dishonest bumbler who botched the hiring of a major television executive and pushed the release of a movie that angered the Chinese government, damaging Disney's business prospects in the country...

...The first movie (Martin) Scorsese made for Disney was "Kundun," which dealt with the Dalai Lama and included material critical of the Chinese government. (Shareholder Attorney) Schulman displayed a Disney memo in which executives at the company warned that the film would anger the Chinese. Ovitz acknowledged that the Chinese did loudly complain before the film was released.

"Were you not alarmed for the business of Disney by the reaction of the Chinese government given that one of your primary areas of responsibility was to build up the company's business in the Far East?" Schulman asked.

Ovitz responded that he was alarmed but "not panicked." He said that he called friends in China and that anger over "Kundun" quickly subsided. "It didn't do anything to hurt the Disney relationship in China," he said. "There is a [theme] park being built there right now." Ovitz is to take the stand again Friday.