Same-Sex Kiss Restored in Lightyear Film After Pixar Employees Complain ‘Overtly Gay Affection’ Is Censored
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A same-sex kiss has been added back to Pixar’s upcoming film Lightyear after its removal caused internal backlash, Variety reported on Friday.
The decision to restore the kiss came after LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar sent a statement to Walt Disney Company leadership claiming Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its films.
According to the Variety report, the film Lightyear, starring Chris Evans in the title role to portray Buzz Lightyear’s origin story, features a female character, Hawthorne, who is in a relationship with a woman.
Variety wrote that a kiss between the two female characters had been cut from the film, “[f]ollowing the uproar surrounding the Pixar employees’ statement and Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, however, the kiss was reinstated into the movie last week.”
Disney has come under pressure from several of its employees for not publicly denouncing the Florida bill, which prohibits teachers and staff from discussing topics such as sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through third grade and gives parents more access to school counseling records. Disney employees have staged walkouts in protest of Chapek’s response.
Chapek has since taken a stronger stance against the legislation, and reportedly called Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to convey the company’s “disappointment and concern.”
Former Pixar employees told Variety there had been many efforts to integrate LGBTQ representation into films, but their efforts were often stymied through internal self-censorship. Per Variety, none of the sources recalled a time Disney executives directed LGBTQ content to be cut, but the March 9 statement argued that scenes have been cut at “Disney’s behest.”
“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 statement said. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
