Disney ‘cutting gay affection’ from films

DISNEY has censored “overtly gay affection” from its Pixar films, according to staff who said storylines and characters were edited out by nervous executives.

A letter from “the LGBTQIA+ Employees of Pixar and Their Allies” criticised bosses at Disney, which bought Pixar in 2006.

Pixar is the studio behind box office hits including the Toy Story, Cars and Monsters, Inc franchises.

“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” the letter said.

“Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”

The inclusion of gay characters can harm a film’s box office prospects.

Onward, a Pixar fantasy film released in 2020, did feature a lesbian character: a cyclops police officer named Specter.

The film was banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and in Russia the word “girlfriend” was replaced with “partner”.

In other films, it has been left to audiences to infer if characters could be gay.

Zootopia, released by Disney in 2016, features two male antelopes named Bucky and Pronk who share an apartment. Screenwriters later confirmed that they were a gay married couple.

The letter was written in response to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education legislation, nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics. It bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in primary schools.

Florida is home to the Walt Disney World resort, and Disney is one of the state’s biggest employers.

In their letter, the employees said: “Disney claims to care for the welfare of children, but supporting politicians like this directly hurts one of their most vulnerable audiences.”