Disney is proudly unveiling its first LGBTQ animated character — but the initial reveal of its jaw-dropping one-eyed, horned lesbian cop fell way flat.
It was as if the mega-company was trying so hard to not do what not to do, that’s exactly what it did.
And Twitter followers let Disney have it.
The new animated film “Onward,” premiering March 6 and featuring the voices of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as elf brothers, introduces the first “self-identified” lesbian character into the Disney-Pixar universe. Officer Specter is a Cyclops cop voiced by openly gay screenwriter and actress Lena Waithe.
“It opens up the world a little bit, and that’s what we wanted,” director Dan Scanlon boasted to Yahoo Entertainment. “It’s a modern fantasy world and we want to represent the modern world.”
A few problems: With just a single LGBTQ character, the modern world of “Onward” isn’t so modern. Officer Specter makes only a brief appearance in a single scene and refers once to her girlfriend. Viewers don’t ever meet or see the girlfriend, according to Slate.
And though the film takes place in a “magical kingdom” with “fantastical creatures,” the other characters in the trailer all look pretty ... normal.
Granted, Disney faces a tough crowd. Many Twitter accounts mentioning Officer Specter were peppered with comments by people swearing off the film because of her.
But many blasted Disney for wimping out again. Why oh why, wondered one critic, couldn’t Elsa in “Frozen” finally come out?
Disney’s “Eternals,” coming out in November, will also reportedly show the first kiss by a same-sex couple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and will feature Haaz Sleiman and Bryan Tyree Henry.
“We represent a gay family, and have a child,” Sleiman told NewNowNext. He called the kiss “very moving,” adding: “Everyone cried on set.”
It’s still unclear whether that scene — or Officer Specter — will survive Disney’s international releases. Disney scrubbed a same-sex kiss from “The Rise of Skywalker” from versions released in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
