Disney has excerpted a transgender storyline from the eight-episode Pixar streaming series “Win or Lose,” which will be released in February, the company announced Tuesday.
“When it comes to animated content for younger audiences, we recognize that many parents prefer to discuss specific topics with their children based on their convenience and schedule,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. said.
The character will remain on the show, but references to the character’s gender identity have been removed, the company said. The changes include “just a few lines of dialogue” near the end of the season.
“Win or Lose” revolves around a co-ed middle school softball team preparing for a big game, with each episode focusing on a different character’s perspective. The animated series features the voices of “Saturday Night Live” alum Will Forte and “Fresh Off the Boat” actor Ian Chen.
The storyline change drew criticism from Chanel Stewart, an 18-year-old transgender actor who voiced a transgender character.
“I was very disappointed,” Stewart told entertainment news site Deadline. Stewart told the magazine that Disney called her mother Monday night to inform her of the change.
“From the moment I received the script, I was excited to share my journey to empower other transgender youth,” Stewart said. “We knew this would be a very important conversation. Transgender stories matter and deserve to be heard.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company wants to stay away from themes that could be seen as political. “Injecting messages is not what we’re trying to do,” Iger said in an interview with CNBC in early April. “We need to be entertained.”
In recent years, Disney has sometimes found itself at the center of broader American culture wars, particularly during the tenure of Mr. Iger’s short-lived predecessor, Bob Chapek.
In 2022, Chapek was criticized by employees for apparently remaining silent on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would limit discussion of LGBTQ issues in classrooms, and ultimately passed the bill. When he publicly opposed it, he was criticized by conservatives.
That same year, conservative activists accused Disney of featuring LGBTQ characters in two animated family films. Pixar’s “Lightyear” featured a brief same-sex kiss, and Disney Animation’s “Strange World” revolved partly around gay teenagers.
Disney has featured LGBTQ characters and themes in its adult content, including the Searchlight Pictures films “All of Us Strangers” and “Fire Island,” and the FX series “Pose,” which ended in 2021. I have continued.
The decision regarding the “Win or Lose” storyline was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The show was co-created by Carey Hobson and Michael Yates, who previously worked on Pixar projects such as Toy Story 4 and Inside Head 2.
