Pixar's Lightyear features a lesbian couple who kiss and are shown to have a child together. It caused a minor stir online at the time, but was recently brought back to the forefront of everyone's minds by rapper Snoop Dogg.
He explained that his grandson had some questions about the scene, expressing confusion that two women could have a baby together. Snoop was unimpressed, saying, "I didn’t come in for this shit. I just came to watch the goddamn movie," and admitted that it "f*cked me up...I’m like, scared to go to the movies. Y’all throwing me in the middle of shit that I don’t have an answer for."
The Grammy-nominated artist has since come under fire, with some even calling for him to be dropped as a performer from Australia's AFL Grand Final football match. In response, his comments were edited out of the full podcast, only to be uploaded as a YouTube short when fans called out the attempted "cover-up."
As we first reported on Toonado.com, Snoop himself has issued something of an apology to his fans by acknowledging the backlash in a comment posted to Instagram. "I was just caught off guard and had no answer for my grandsons," he wrote. "All my gay friends [know] what’s up. They been calling me with love."
"My bad for not knowing the answers for a 6-year-old. Teach me how to learn. I’m not perfect," the rapper acknowledged.
This comes after Lightyear writer Lauren Gunderson responded to Snoop's comments by saying, "So. I created the Lightyear lesbians. In 2018, I was a writer at Pixar – such a cool place, grateful to work there, learned a ton from kind and impressive creatives. As we wrote early versions of what became Lightyear, a key character needed a partner, and it was so natural to write 'she' instead of 'he.'"
"As small as that detail is in the film, I knew the representational effect it could have. Small line, big deal. I was elated that they kept it," she continued. "I’m proud of it. To infinity. Love is love."
Lightyear was released in 2022 to positive reviews, but ended up being a box office flop. The movie only grossed $226 million worldwide, losing Disney and Pixar upwards of $100 million.
Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick posed a problem for Lightyear, but it was clear that people ultimately weren't interested in spending time with the "real" Buzz Lightyear, despite the Toy Story franchise's continued popularity.
The studio considered dialling back Lightyear's LGBTQ+ representation, prompting employees to issue a statement accusing Disney executives of actively removing "overtly gay affection" from its films. The kiss was reinstated, and the rest is history.