Local News in Brief : Disney Rival’s Message
An attorney for entertainment conglomerate MCA has disclosed that the company was behind a series of mysterious leaflets that attacked a multimillion-dollar development proposed for Burbank by MCA’s rival, the Walt Disney Co.
The attorney, Daniel Shapiro, said Wednesday that four professionally designed mailers sent to registered Burbank voters during the last two weeks were initiated and financed by MCA. The flyers urged protests of the city’s tentative approval of the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot, an entertainment, office and retail complex, which the mailers alleged would cost Burbank more than $100 million in tax money.
MCA was not mentioned in the mailers, and a return address on them said they had been sent by “Friends of Burbank.”
Shapiro said MCA sent the flyers to focus attention on a Burbank City Council meeting Tuesday, when the project was discussed, and always intended to reveal its role after the meeting.
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