Toy Story 4, one of Disney and Pixar's hits, featured a scene where a child being dropped off at nursery was shown to have two mothers. Photo / Disney
Toy Story 4, one of Disney and Pixar's hits, featured a scene where a child being dropped off at nursery was shown to have two mothers. Photo / Disney
Disney has censored "overtly gay affection" from its Pixar films, according to company employees who said that 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 studiobehind box-office hits including the Toy Story, Cars and Monsters Inc franchises.
The letter said: "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.
"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.
"Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it."
Same-sex references cut in some countries
Onward featured a lesbian character, Officer Specter, voiced by Lena Waithe, the lesbian actor and writer. Photo / Disney
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 one-eyed police officer named Specter.
The character's sexuality was made clear when Specter said: "It's not easy being a new parent – my girlfriend's daughter got me pulling my hair out."
The film was banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, according to the website Deadline, while 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. Zootropolis, released in 2016, features two male antelopes named Bucky and Pronk who share an apartment.
The film's credits reveal that they share a double-barrelled surname of Oryx-Antlerson. Jared Bush, the screenwriter, later confirmed that they were a gay married couple.
Zootropolis, released in 2016, features two male antelopes who were later confirmed to be a gay couple. Photo / Disney
In Frozen, the owner of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post says: "Hi, family!" to four children and a man relaxing in a sauna.
Jennifer Lee, the writer and co-director, was asked if the brief scene was an acknowledgement of LGBT families, and replied: "We know what we made. But at the same time, I feel like once we hand the film over, it belongs to the world. So I don't like to say anything, and just let the fans talk. I think it's up to them."
Toy Story 4 was praised by Gay Times for including "a small but important moment of LGBTQ representation" when a child being dropped off at nursery was shown to have two mothers.
However, Disney has been criticised for minimising such moments. Dani Di Placido, a writer at Forbes magazine, noted that: "Conveniently, these minuscule slivers of LGBTQ representation are so brief, so utterly irrelevant to the plot of these films, that they can be easily edited out for socially conservative audiences."
Many fans were convinced that Luca, last year's Pixar hit about two boys hiding the fact that they are sea creatures, was a metaphor. Enrico Casarosa, the film's director, said: "I'm not saying 'yes' or 'no', but I feel like this is a movie about being open to any difference."
Disney did include a gay character in its 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. Josh Gad played LeFou, a comedy sidekick to the film's main villain.
Josh Gad's character, left, in the 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast was portrayed as gay. Photo / Disney
'Don't Say Gay' bill outcry
The letter from Pixar employees was written in response to Florida's controversial Parental Rights in Education legislation, which has been labelled the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics.
The bill bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in primary schools.
Bob Chapek, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, initially told employees that the company would not oppose the bill as "corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds". His stance was heavily criticised and he has since voiced his public opposition to the policy.
Florida is home to the Walt Disney World resort, and Disney is one of the state's largest 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. There are lives at stake and Disney's support could save those lives."
