Disney Censored ‘Gay’ and ‘Lesbian’ in Tiktok Text-To-Speech Character Voices

As a part of its Disney Plus Day promotion final week, Disney partnered with TikTook to launch a suite of text-to-speech voices that includes beloved characters like Chewbacca and Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, however wouldn’t allow them to say phrases like “queer,” “gay” or “lesbian.”

With text-to-speech, creators can simply convert typed-out phrases to audio, making it an awesome and regularly utilized accessibility function on the platform that’s significantly helpful for visually impaired or blind customers. But TikTook customers have been quick to point out that the Disney voices would skip over phrases which are generally used to precise sexuality, though you possibly can fairly simply sport the system by together with deliberate typos like “gayy,” “guay” or “qweer.”

TikTook hasn’t responded to our request for touch upon why the phrases have been initially blocked, however it’s value noting that the platform’s personal built-in text-to-speech function takes no problem with phrases like “gay” or “lesbian,” and can learn them out loud in a sentence or as a standalone.

The choice—which now seems to have been reversed—will come as no shock to followers of Disney or anybody who has been sentient sufficient within the final 40 years or so to note that the Mouse House has points with the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. Although the corporate has made some wan gestures at queer illustration lately—there was apparently a homosexual character in Cruella who I’m positive was vital to the plot and had a ton of strains—followers have been pressured to learn between the strains for years with characters which are explicitly queer-coded however by no means formally confirmed as queer.

Look, we get it—Disney is a household firm, and it’s at all times going to be ultra-conservative in the case of swear phrases, violence, or points associated to intercourse. But sexual id could be very a lot other than intercourse itself, and it’s well past time for Disney to acknowledge that expressions of LGBTQ+ id will not be hedonistic or incompatible with household values in any approach. Just ask the lesbian mothers with the three-second cameo in Toy Story 4.