‘Very disheartened’: trans actor speaks out as Disney changes his Pixar character to be cisgender | The Walt Disney Company

An upcoming Pixar animated television series will no longer include a transgender teenager after Disney removed dialogue that referenced the character’s gender identity.

Win or Lose, which begins on Disney+ in February, follows various members of a young mixed softball team, the Pickles, in the run-up to their championship game. Voices on the show include comedian Will Forte as the team’s coach, Dan.

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to reveal that several lines of dialogue referencing the transgender character’s identity had been removed. In a statement, Disney confirmed the change, saying, “When it comes to animated content for younger audiences, we recognize that many parents prefer to discuss certain topics with their children on their own terms and timeline.”

A source close to the show told the Hollywood Reporter that the studio decided months ago to change the gender identity of the character, whose name has not yet been revealed.

Chanel Stewart, the 18-year-old transgender actor who portrays the character, said she was “very disheartened” by Disney’s decision.

“From the moment I got the script, I was excited to share my journey to help empower other trans youth. I knew this would be a very important conversation. Trans stories matter and they deserve to be heard.” she told Deadline.

She confirmed that Disney had told her that her character is still “heavy” on the show, but she “now wanted to be a cis girl, a straight cis girl”.

Stewart applied for the role in 2020 after seeing a social media post about Pixar’s search for a transgender girl to voice a transgender teenager for the series. “The thought of authentically portraying a transgender teenage girl made me really happy,” she told Deadline. “I wanted to make this for transgender kids like me.”

Her mother, Keisha, told Deadline: “There may be some parents out there who aren’t ready to have that conversation, but this is the world we live in and everyone should be represented. Everyone deserves to be recognized. And that felt like it was just another setback for the LGBTQ community because it’s very hard on transgender teenagers…transgender, period.

Disney declined to comment further on the matter.

Disney has previously come under fire for its handling of LGBTQ+ characters, whose presence could affect their ability to sell movies and TV in countries that ban or censor LGBTQ+ content.

The company’s handling of Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill also resulted in its ties to the US political establishment and the lack of LGBTQ+ representation in its films coming under scrutiny.

In 2022, the Pixar film Lightyear sparked controversy for including two women briefly kissingwhile Disney Animation’s Strange World featured an openly gay protagonist but flopped at the box office. Disney also cut a lesbian kiss from a Star Wars movie to get a lower age rating in Singapore.