As the Disney corporation continues to be buffeted by internal attacks by its LGBTQ employees, Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios announced that it was restoring an “overtly gay” same-sex kissing scene in its upcoming Buzz Lightyear film, “Lightyear.”
Pixar’s new movie is based on its hit “Toy Story” films and the character once voiced by popular conservative-leaning comic Tim Allen. This animated film, though, will feature “Captain America” star Chris Evans as the voice of the astronaut the toy is based on in this extension to the fictional “Toy Story” universe of films.
The film, which is not yet rated, will follow the events that make astronaut Buzz Lightyear famous enough for a toy to be based on his likeness in the “Toy Story” world.
According to Variety, Pixar had edited out a same-sex kissing between lesbian characters Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and her girlfriend.
But as part of the continued attacks internally on Disney’s initial reaction to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill — which critics falsely label as the “don’t say gay” bill — Pixar has decided to restore the lesbian kissing scene into the film that is scheduled to be released in June.
Variety quoted a statement by Pixar employees that claims that Disney executives carefully review gay content in Pixar films.
“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 reads. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
Despite that, though, Variety said it could not find any proof of the statement’s claim of Disney censorship. It said that past LGBTQ content was actually cut by Pixar execs who feared that the content wouldn’t get by Disney’s censors.
Still, the announcement that Pixar is restoring the same-sex kissing scene to “Lightyear” may signal that the studio will now put the onus to censor LGBTQ content on Disney.
All this was set off by Disney’s decision not to make any public statements about Florida’s parental notification bill as it was being crafted and debated in the state legislature.
The bill in its current form would prohibit exposing kids under ten years of age to radical sexual practices and ideologies in school. The bill never mentions the word “gay,” nor does it single out any particular sexual proclivity. Instead, it reads, “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Radical gay activists, of course, are furious that the bill prohibits teachers from exposing kids to the left-wing sexual agenda. And since Disney did not openly oppose the bill at the outset, these activists are claiming that Disney didn’t do enough to stop Florida from “targeting the LGBTQ community” — which the bill does not do anyway.
LGBTQ employees began attacking Disney CEO Bob Chapek for not doing enough to oppose the bill. In response, Chapek said the company contacted Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis about their concerns. For his part, DeSantis noted he only heard from Chapek once and blasted Disney for the late-coming attack on the bill.
In a statement, DeSantis clapped back at Disney, saying, “when you have companies that have made a fortune off being family-friendly and catering to families and young kids, they should understand that parents of young kids do not want this injected into their kid’s kindergarten classroom.”
“They do not want their first-graders to go and be told that they can choose an opposite gender,” DeSantis added. “That is not appropriate for those kids. So if you’re family-friendly, understand the parents, who are actually raising families, want to have their rights respected.”
“You have companies, like a Disney, that are going to say and criticize parents’ rights, they’re going to criticize the fact that we don’t want transgenderism in kindergarten in first-grade classrooms,” DeSantis said.
The governor then slammed Disney for making billions from communist China.
“If that’s the hill they’re going to die on, then how do they possibly explain lining their pockets with their relationship from the Communist Party of China? Because that’s what they do, and they make a fortune, and they don’t say a word about the really brutal practices that you see over there at the hands of the CCP,” he exclaimed.
DeSantis concluded with a swift line cutting Disney to the quick, saying, “And so in Florida, our policy’s got to be based on the best interest of Florida citizens, not on the musing of woke corporations.”
As if to underscore the debate, the same week that Disney employees were attacking their CEO and advocating for exposing little children to a dangerous sexual agenda in kindergarten, the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests of four Disney employees in a human trafficking sting operation. At least one was charged as a child sexual predator.
Via The Western Journal.