- Disney has cut a trans storyline from Pixar’s Win or Lose
- This isn’t the first time it’s cut LGBTQIA+ themed stories
- Many brands have been subject to huge pile-ons for inclusivity
If you’re looking for a Christmas present for the LGBTQIA+ folks in your life, Disney would very much like to sell you items from its Pride collection: there’s a Pride version of Mickey Mouse, a Disney Pride pin, a Disney Stitch… you get the idea. As the page says: “The Walt Disney Company proudly works with nonprofits throughout the year to support the LGBTQIA+ community globally.”
So, it’s a shame that that pride doesn’t seem to extend to including LGBTQIA+ characters in the best Disney Plus shows or best Disney Plus movies any more. The Hollywood Reporter has learnt that Disney has excised a trans storyline from the upcoming Pixar series Win or Lose, which follows a softball team and focuses on a different character each episode.
All the lines referring to the trans character’s gender identity have been excised, and the decision was made months ago – possibly while LGBTQIA+ people were spending their pink pounds at the Disneyland After Dark Pride Nite in California.
Why has Disney removed trans representation from its Pixar show?
If you ask the people on my socials, many of whom are working in the entertainment industry and many of whom are LGBTQIA+, the answer is simple: they think it’s cowardice. LGBTQIA+ inclusion in TV shows, media and pretty much anything else has been the subject of orchestrated pile-ons by right-wing “anti-woke” activists, and all kinds of firms from Budweiser to Target have rolled back or abandoned inclusion altogether. With the incoming administration determined to wage a “war on woke” and diversity under attack, you’d need to be as brave as a Disney princess to stand up for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Disney’s management, it seems, are not as brave as their princesses.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney said: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”
This isn’t the first time Disney has self-censored, although it denies that that’s what it’s doing: earlier this year, the Disney Channel series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur cancelled an episode centered on a recurring trans character. Disney says it hasn’t banned it; it’s just decided not to show this particular episode because reasons.
This isn’t just bad news for LGBTQIA+ viewers. It’s bad news for LGBTQIA+ talent: the character whose storyline Disney cut from Win or Lose is played by Chanel Stewart, who is trans – the casting call was specifically for a trans actress – and is now “very disheartened”. If Disney is scared of simply featuring trans characters for fear of backlash it doesn’t bode well for the actors, animators and other employees currently working for the company – or for the LGBTQIA+ folks hoping to see even a sliver of representation in Disney’s shows and movies.