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New York (CNN) — Disney has cut a transgender storyline from its new animated series, “Win or Lose,” ahead of the show’s release.
The original animated series from Disney-owned studio Pixar centres around a co-ed middle school softball team, the Pickles, in the run-up to the group’s championship game. Each of the series’ eight episodes, which will begin to roll out on Disney+ on Feb. 19, will focus on a different member of the Pickles.
While the storyline involving gender identity will no longer be included, the character will remain in the series, a person familiar with the matter told CNN, adding that the decision to remove the plot point was made a couple of months ago.
Still, the announcement is not as simple as crossing lines off a script since the character’s dialogue has already been recorded.
“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognise that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” Disney said in a statement.
The decision was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The announcement comes after the reelection of former President Donald Trump, who has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which have become a cause célèbre of the right.
In response to online pressure and threats, many companies have recently made changes to their DEI policies.
Asked whether Disney’s decision to cut the transgender storyline from “Win or Lose” could be interpreted as the company distancing itself from diversity initiatives in anticipation of a second Trump administration, the company declined to comment.
Earlier this year, Disney chief executive Bob Iger told CNBC that the entertainment giant isn’t interested in sending messages in its shows or movies.
“The term woke is thrown around rather liberally,” Iger said.
“I think a lot of people don’t even understand really what it means. The bottom line is that infusing messaging as a sort of a number one priority in our films and TV shows is not what we’re up to. They need to be entertaining.”
Disney’s embrace of diverse cast members and storylines has been met with controversy in the past.
The 2022 “Toy Story” prequel “Lightyear,” featured a same-sex relationship and kiss in a PG-rated film marketed to younger audiences.
But the kiss almost didn’t make it to the big screen after Disney executives moved to cut the scene, stirring uproar among Pixar’s staff.
Ultimately, the same-sex kiss was restored, but the film drew backlash from conservatives and was banned in more than a dozen Middle Eastern and Asian countries.
The Magic Kingdom has also included LGBTQ representation in its adult-oriented features, including FX’s “Pose,” Marvel’s “Agatha All Along,” and Searchlight Pictures’ “All of Us Strangers.”
After Florida enacted a law critics labelled “Don’t Say Gay” in 2022, then-Disney chief Bob Chapek’s belated stand against the legislation ignited a wave of backlash from right-wing media figures, who portrayed the company as a “woke” organisation seeking to “groom” children with what they characterised as a radical LGBTQ agenda.
Since returning to the helm, Iger has made it clear that creators have “lost sight” of what their top objective ought to be. Speaking at the DealBook Summit last year, the Disney chief said the company’s mandate is to entertain audiences, not champion rights.
“I like being able to do that, entertain, and if you can infuse it with positive messages and have a good impact on the world, fantastic, but that should not be the objective,” Iger said.
“When I came back, what I’ve really tried to do is to return to our roots — which is, remember, we have to entertain first: It’s not about messages.”
