Actor ‘Disheartened’ After Disney Axes Trans Storyline From New Series ‘Win Or Lose’
Image: Photo: Disney Pixar, chanelstewart / Instagram.
New Pixar series Win or Lose originally had a storyline featuring a trans character 鈥� but Disney has now confirmed that they’ve pulled the storyline, and changed the character to a ‘straight cis girl’.
The character’s voice actor, 18-year-old Chanel Stewart, who is transgender, has spoken out about feeling “very disheartened” over the decision.
Win or Lose is an eight episode series which follows a school softball team named the Pickles. Each episode focuses on the life of a different team member, parent, umpire or coach, in the lead up to the Pickles’ big championship game.
One of these episodes was planned to focus on the life of a character who is transgender 鈥� but no more, sadly.
The character does still remain in the show, but all dialogue that referenced their gender identity has been removed.
Disney confirms the studio decided to remove trans storyline
According of The Hollywood Reporter, Disney made the decision to change the character’s gender identity ‘months ago’.
A spokesperson for Disney told THR: 鈥淲hen 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.鈥�
Trans teen who voices character says she’s “very disheartened”
18-year-old actor and transgender woman Chanel Stewart about Disney’s decision, saying she’s 鈥渧ery disheartened鈥�.
鈥淔rom 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,” said Chanel. “Trans stories matter, and they deserve to be heard.”
She confirmed that her character is still featured in the show, but is now “a straight cis girl鈥�.
Chanel was awarded the role after applying via a public callout that Pixar did on social media in 2020. The search was specifically looking for a transgender girl who would voice a transgender character in the series.
Chanel said applied because she 鈥渨anted to make this for transgender kids like me”.
鈥淭he thought of authentically portraying a transgender teenage girl made me really happy,鈥� she told Deadline.
鈥淭here 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 recognised.” Chanel’s mother said to Deadline. “And it felt like it was just another setback for the LGBTQ community, because it鈥檚 very hard on transgender teenagers 鈥� transgender people, period.鈥�
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