Early last year, I wrote a piece arguing that despite their best efforts, Hollywood's media companies would not be able to skirt around the ongoing culture wars in America. I wrote that there was likely to be continued pressure by conservative groups hoping to dial back diversity programs and efforts to increase cast and character diversity:
The problem with cowering to this mob is that recent American history has shown us that winning a battle isn't enough. Like hostage-takers everywhere, the cultural purists of the conservative movement see this as a literal do-or-die cultural war. And once you win one battle, you don't celebrate. You move on to your next target....
I agree that media companies don't need to go out of their way to provoke conservatives. They should be as politically neutral as possible. But neutrality only works in an environment where diversity is possible. When one side starts arguing that merely mentioning same sex relationships is wrong, then lines have already been drawn.
But unfortunately, the response by media companies has tended to be to edit and withdraw what executives consider to be problematical content before anyone has complained. The problem with that approach is that it not only doesn't help tamp down criticism from conservatives, it also provokes criticism from those seeking to increase diversity.
The latest example of that trend comes from the Disney animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which has apparently been canceled even though season two of the show is scheduled to premiere in 2025.
An unaired episode of the show entitled "The Gatekeeper" features a transgender character named Brooklyn (Indya Moore). Brooklyn is a member of the girl's volleyball team and faces discrimination from a "narrow-minded coach" who wants to have her removed from the game.
There have been rumors for several weeks that the episode had sparked concern from some Disney executives. Although given the production lead time in animation, it's not as if the plot was unknown to the company.
Several days ago, series storyboard revisionist, Derrick Malik Johnson, seems to have confirmed the issue in a now-deleted Bluesky post, that read:
“So guess I finally got hit with one of the projects (episode) I worked on is getting shelved because of which party that won the recent election. It breaks my heart knowing this impactful and amazing is now about to be consider a lost media episode.”
The episode quickly surfaced online and was posted multiple times on YouTube, with Disney playing whack-a-mole by filing copyright claims to remove the video. But copies of the video have now been posted on fan sites as well as Archive.org.
Disney spokespeople have so far declined to comment on the issue, but other Disney animation creatives have been complaining on social media about the decision.
Emma Cicirega, storyboard artist on Gravity Falls, posted this to her X account:
“Disney should be ashamed of themselves for canning this episode. You don’t get to approve, approve, approve something and then destroy it at the last minute, shattering the crews' hard work and hopes.”
Amphibia creator Matt Braly also weighed in on the issue:
“If an episode got this far, it was approved multiple times by multiple divisions, only to suddenly be struck down at the last second? Total breakdown of process and spitting on your team's careful/thoughtful work. S&P approved this ep. It was good to go."
This preemptive editing is going to be one of the biggest challenges for Hollywood creatives in the coming years. If you have a story about this or any other similar issue you've encountered, you can contact me via email at
