Disney is facing intense backlash online after it was revealed that the studio removed a trans storyline from their upcoming animated series, Win or Lose.
What is ‘Win or Lose’?
Win or Lose is an upcoming Pixar series about a co-ed middle school softball team. Each episode dives into the life of a different character as the players, coaches, and parents all prepare for the team’s championship game.
The eight-episode season has been in the works for several years and is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in February.
What was cut from ‘Win or Lose’ and why?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio decided to remove dialogue that would identify one of the characters in Win or Lose as trans.
“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” a spokesperson for Disney said in a statement.
According to X user @LostMediaBuster, a rough version of the relevant scene leaked to 4chan several months ago. Although its authenticity hasn’t been confirmed, it shows a character named Kai experiencing gender dysphoria in the girls’ bathroom before receiving quick reassurance from her coach.
🚨BREAKING🚨: Here’s the entire now-removed LGBTQ+ scene from Pixar’s Win Or Lose. https://t.co/oqovp3tueG pic.twitter.com/Bnh7dtwEpi
— Lost Media Busters | @lostmediabusters.bsky.social (@LostMediaBuster) December 17, 2024
Disney faces backlash over removal of trans character
Trans issues have been at the forefront of the “culture wars” in the United States in recent years. There have been hundreds of anti-trans bills introduced at both the state and federal level and anti-LGBTQ hate crimes have consistently been on the rise. There’s also been a decrease in trans representation on TV.
While the latter may not seem as important, studies have shown that seeing trans characters in movies and television helps positively shift public perception. So to see Disney capitulate to those who would prefer to see LGBTQ+ voices silenced and representation whittled down into nothing has left a lot of people frustrated, albeit not necessarily surprised.
Is there a more well aging Tweet on this entire site then Alex Hirsch’s about Disney’s hypocrisy?
— TRAFON(s Backup Account) (@RiseFallNickBck) December 18, 2024
Really wish it wasn’t aging well but… yeah, it is. Also starting to see why Win or Lose has taken like four years to get finished… https://t.co/B9P0HelSF2 pic.twitter.com/RA7WRzH3yb
Absolutly disgusting and disappointing of Disney to this to her, I can’t believe How backwards they are going with their progressive stories
— JSGB Guardian🇧🇷🎃💀👻#Free🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩 (@JuanSidney2) December 18, 2024
win or lose and they picked lose https://t.co/8Sxc0Q5yA7
— No Context Disney+ (@nc_disneyplus) December 17, 2024
I wanna stay hopeful when it comes to this sort of thing, I really do, but the reality is many parents see LGBTQ+ people as “not kid-friendly.” It’s gonna be worse now that Trump is back as President.
— 🎄Alb3rt0🐻❄️Loves⛄️Chwistmas🎅 (@APPictures9) December 17, 2024
All we can do is hope other studios don’t follow suit, or stick with indies.
the thing to me is that if you were already gonna do it but decided not to, in order to not piss off one side, you inadvertently piss off another side, so you lose either way lmao. https://t.co/cn8XuFUd4Y
— dille (@nescartridges) December 17, 2024
rainbow capitalism has never been a substitute for real acceptance but seeing that corporations no longer see a point in even pretending to support lgbtq people is pretty terrifying https://t.co/E1y8zHbkDU
— hotdog water (@saltysauerkraut) December 18, 2024
This is hardly the first time Disney has faced backlash for cutting an LGBTQ+ character, relationship, or scene from their movies. In fact, their track record minimizing anticipated representation is so bleak and laughable that the HBO Max series The Other Two based a whole episode around it.
That the company is now explicitly spewing the pearl-clutching “think of the children” excuse as a reason to exclude trans representation brings a new level of disappointment. And it’s also blatantly ridiculous.
Pixar will make whole movies centered around a parent straight up dying but sure, *this* is too sensitive to talk about https://t.co/MF3YDSETxo
— Emmy Cicierega (@EmmyCic) December 17, 2024
So @Pixar is OK with multiple romantic stories including monsters, toys, cars, bugs, robots, superheroes (who we know fkkd and had kids) & literal base elements,
— Davey Sockrocker (@daveysockrocker) December 17, 2024
BUT they think basic trans representation is too far… https://t.co/g3cDaKngeA pic.twitter.com/3ApqqSmIg3
‘Win or Lose’ actress Chanel Stewart speaks out
The actress who voiced the character at the center of this controversy has been particularly critical of Disney’s decision to strip away her character’s original identity.
18-year-old Chanel Stewart told Deadline that the casting for the Win or Lose role had explicitly called for a trans actress. She auditioned, booked the job, and recorded the part when she was 14.
“The thought of authentically portraying a transgender teenage girl made me really happy,” she said. “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.”
Damn… I honestly feel so sorry for Chanel. Imagine being a trans woman finally getting the opportunity to voice a trans character in a Pixar show only for that representation to be stripped away bc of Disney wanting to pander to brain dead conservatives.
— EliánLugo005 (@ElinLugo1) December 18, 2024
Fuck Disney. https://t.co/B1nqZvHuwq
Instead, she was informed by Disney this week that the character had been altered, effectively making her a “straight cis girl.”
“There may be some parents out there who are not ready to have that conversation, but this is the world that we live in and everyone should be represented. Everyone deserves to be recognized,” Stewart’s mother, Keisha, told Deadline. “And it felt like it was just another setback for the LGBTQ community, because it’s very hard on transgender teenagers… transgender people, period. Especially when you’re young and you’re trying to figure out how to navigate this world that you live in and be able to grow into your own person.”
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