Pixar Reportedly Removed Gay Storyline from 'Luca'

Disney has issued a statement following the signing of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed the controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, into law.

“Here I am being queer and gorgeous and I’m on the red carpet, and I’m very happy to represent fellow gorgeous queer that consume Disney,” Encanto actress Jessica Darrow told Deadline tonight on the Oscars red carpet.

Oscar Isaac may be in the midst of promoting a new Disney series, but that doesn’t mean he’ll hold back criticism of the company’s corporate response to Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

LGBTQ+ Walt Disney Company employees and their allies put on a “full stage” walkout Tuesday at various corporate locations across the U.S. to protest what they see as a “lame” and “inadequate” stance taken by the company and its CEO Bob Chapek to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek is facing a crisis of confidence in his leader­ship that is fueling an atypical level of turmoil at the top of the world’s largest entertainment company.Though Chapek’s current em­ployment contract, expiring next February, is expected to be renewed soon, according to sources, his tenure as CEO has been marked by upheaval since he was named to the job in February 2020. Some of the disruption has been far out of his control, such as a global pandemic.

Oscar Isaac has something to say about “Don’t Say Gay.”

As many of its LGBTQ+ employees get set for a full-day walkout tomorrow, Disney has decided to postpone a management retreat set for next week as it continues efforts to calm the internal waters.

On Saturday night, Greg Berlanti used his PGA acceptance speech as a platform to widely criticize the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation in Florida.

Lightyear following a backlash after it was cut.As reported in Variety, the animated prequel for Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear includes a relationship between two female characters. A kiss between the two is said to have been removed but later reinstated after a backlash to its removal, and Disney’s recent handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently apologised to employees for his silence over Florida’s controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill which was passed earlier this month.The Republican-led bill, formally known as Parental Rights in Education, bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to third grade classes (aged 8-9).

After coming under fire for its handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Pixar is restoring a cut scene from its upcoming film “Lightyear”.

Pixar’s forthcoming Toy Story prequel Lightyear has put a same-sex kiss back following an internal backlash to Disney’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterOn March 9, LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar Animation Studios sent a joint statement to Walt Disney Company leadership claiming that Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its feature films.

Gabrielle Union has hit out at the Walt Disney Company over its decision to take a soft stance regarding the “Don’t Say Gay” bill banning Florida teachers in classes up to third grade from talking about LGBTQIA+ issues with their students.

Gabrielle Union has levied criticism towards the Walt Disney Company over its widely derided decision to take a soft stance regarding new anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in Florida.The actress, who stars alongside Zach Braff in the studio’s upcoming Disney Plus reimagining of “Cheaper by the Dozen,” voiced her dismay regarding the situation on the red carpet for the streaming release.“Somebody asked me, ‘Are you disappointed?’ I’m disappointed when my order isn’t right at In-N-Out. I don’t even think that’s a word that you could use for something like this, where children’s lives are literally hanging in the balance,” Union told Variety at the premiere.

“When we donate money to different political candidates, we have no idea how they’re going to vote going forward into the future,” said Disney CEO Bob Chapek at a shareholders meeting this past week.

first reported on Twitter by journalist Judd Legum of the newsletter Popular Information, strikes back against Chapek’s comments — in both a company-wide memo sent to Disney employees and subsequent remarks at the company’s annual shareholder meeting — purporting to stand with the company’s LGBTQ employees and the LGBTQ community more broadly.In the memo, issued earlier this week, Chapek defended the company’s decision not to issue a statement on the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill — a piece of “parental rights” legislation that seeks to keep parents informed of any changes in the way schools deal with their children, particularly with respect to affirming a child’s gender identity or sexual orientation without the parents’ knowledge.The bill explicitly bans teacher- or school-led discussions of LGBTQ-related topics up to the third grade, and requires that any conversations in older grades be age-appropriate and “developmentally appropriate.” But critics say that, in practice, given the pressure on teachers and the lack of support from administrators seeking to appease overly-sensitive or litigious parents, schools — and individual teachers — will preemptively censor student speech or LGBTQ-related content, even at the middle and high school levels. Chapek’s memo was issued in response to demonstrations by LGBTQ groups outside of Disney theme parks in Florida and California, as well as simmering discontent among employees, which stemmed not only from what critics characterized as a tepid response to the bill, but from an Orlando Sentinel report that Disney donated to every politician who sponsored and co-sponsored the legislation.In the internal memo, Chapek said the company “unequivocally” stands in support of its LGBTQ

Disney executives have censored gay affection in its films.In an open letter attributed to LGBTQIA+ animators and allies at the studio (obtained by Variety), it reads: “We 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.”The letter is in response to Disney’s messaging around the recently passed legislation in Florida known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which blocks the discussion of LGBT+ identities in schools.Disney’s soft reaction to the legislation attracted widespread criticism.

The Human Rights Campaign is not taking money from Disney anymore.