Creator, executive producer, writer and voice actor for animated series Gravity Falls (not sci-fi) Alex Hirsch has shared via Twitter some of the more outrageous edit requests he received from Disney's Standards and Practices.

The Hollywood Reporter zero in on an example of Disney censoring LGBTQ representation - which there have been complaints about, eg. with Lightyear - but upon examination we see something different.

Content flags weren’t just about potential sexual innuendos a younger audience might not understand either. They also touched on cultural offensiveness or the representation of the show’s gay couple, which Hirsh has previously on several occasions publicly discussed having to fight to show. (Notably, in 2021, he criticized Disney on social media for selling Pride-related products while censoring LGBTQ representation in its shows.)

When it came to the duo, Sheriff Daryl Blubs and Deputy Durland, the Gravity Falls team was asked to “Please revise the action of Blubs putting his arm around Durland. As noted in previous concerns, their affectionate relationship should remain comical versus flirtatious.”

We watched his twitter video and that doesn't add up with what he said:

Disney S&P : Pg 380 - Please revise the action of Blubs putting his arm around Durland. As noted in previous concerns, their affectionate relationship should remain comical versus flirtatious.

Alex Hirsch : Nope. They're...buddies. Chill out.

Disney S&P : The gesture is approved in this context.

Couple or buddies?

In its final episode the series revealed them to be a couple so at the time of this episode they officially would have just been buddies.

Censoring male physical affection because it could be misconstrued as homosexual is still awful but not the same thing.

It was the only LGBTQ related edit request he shared here with the others including sex, religion and animal - possibly also child - cruelty.

On the other hand we'll give THR credit for noting that Alex Hirsch currently executive produces Inside Job for Netflix and they quote part of his response to one edit request:

Why should we be held hostage to whatever imaginary knee-jerk career complainers who would conceivably go out of their way to pretend to be offended by this?

Where Disney stands accused of discriminatory LGBTQ censorship, including by Alex, Netflix stands accused of not censoring LGTBQ hate, eg. Dave Chappell and Ricky Gervais who our own Hannah Gadsby describes respectively as emotionally stunted and not a nuanced thinker.

THR don't make mention of this but Inside Job was recently renewed for a second season.

[ Main Image: Gravity Falls - Deputy Durland and Sheriff Blubs. Credit: Disney via IMDb.com. ]

References

Abramovitch, Seth (June 16, 2022). Hannah Gadsby on Ricky Gervais, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos: “You Don’t Cuddle Up to Power”. The Hollywood Reporter.

Duffy, Nick (February 18, 2016). Disney cartoon Gravity Falls confirms gay romance. Pink News UK.

Hirsch, Alex [@_AlexHirsch] (June 3, 2021). Disney privately: Cut the gay scene! We might lose precious pennies from Russia & China! Twitter.

Hirsch, Alex [@_AlexHirsch] (June 16, 2022). One last treat. Twitter.

Tecson, Karla (February 21, 2016). Disney’s ‘Gravity Falls’ reveals gay couple. International Business Times.

White, Abbey (June 16, 2022). ‘Gravity Falls’ Creator Alex Hirsch Reveals Language, Scene Edits Handed Down by Disney’s Standards & Practices. The Hollywood Reporter.

Wikipedia. Alex Hirsch. (viewed June 18, 2022)

Wikipedia. Gravity Falls. (viewed June 18, 2022)