Disney has removed a storyline about a transgender character from the upcoming Pixar series Win Or Lose.
In an article published on Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that the studio had cut the subplot from the animated sports show, which is set to debut on Disney+ in February 2025.
A statement from a Disney spokesperson said: “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.”
Win Or Lose is about a middle-school softball team preparing for its little league championship game.
Each 20-minute episode explores a different character’s life and back story, including “the insecure kids, their helicopter parents” and “even a lovesick umpire”, according to the show’s official logline.
According to Variety, Win Or Lose never intended to include a full episode about the series’ transgender character, who will remain part of the show.
However, some dialogue referencing gender identity was removed from later episodes of the series.
Though the content change is only now coming to light, an undisclosed source close to the project told The Hollywood Reporter that Disney had decided to tweak Win Or Lose “several months ago”.
Disney did not immediately reply to HuffPost’s request for comment regarding the change.
In recent history, Disney and Pixar have faced backlash for both including and removing LGBTQ+ characters and story arcs in their releases.
Two years ago, Pixar staff protested after a same-sex kiss was cut from the Toy Story prequel, Lightyear, shortly before its release. The studio ended up backtracking on the edit before Lightyear’s debut.
Earlier this year, the company reportedly shelved an episode of the Disney Channel animated series Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur that centred around a transgender character.
A “source” at Disney apparently told Polygon that the episode had not been “banned” from airing but was being “held”.
