Aug 14, 2020

Disney executives have tried to block strange characters in the "Owl House","the creators say.

Cartoon Network executives are not the only ones who resisted strange expressions in the family animation. The creator of Owl House, which currently runs on the Disney Channel, has revealed the difficulties she faced after proposing gay and Bi characters for a recent episode.

Dana Terrace took to Twitter to explain: "At dev I was very open about my intention to put weird kids on the main cast. I'm a horrible liar, so it would have been hard to sneak it out. When we were illuminated by green, I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could not express a bi or gay relationship on the channel

she added, "I'm a Bi." I want to write bi characters, damn. Luckily my stubbornness paid off and now I'm very supportive of the current Disney leadership.

The episode in question, "The Terror of the Enchanting Grom," aired on 8/8. It suggests a budding romantic relationship between 2 female characters: Luz, the main character of the show, and the friendship of her classmates.

On dev, I was very open about my intention to put queer kids in the main cast. I'm a horrible liar, so it would have been hard to sneak it out. When we were illuminated by green, I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could not express a bi or gay relationship on the channel

- Dana Terrace (@DanaTerrace) 2020-8-9

Terrace's comments were published from 2012 to 2016. Commenting on one of Terrasse's tweets, which is the creator of Gravity Falls, which ran on the Disney Channel and Disney XD at 1 P.M., he wrote, "When I made [Gravity Falls] Disney, it forbade me from explicit LGBTQ+ reps. Apparently "the happiest place on Earth" meant "the most straight."

Along with an image of Luz and Amity holding hands, he wrote, "A Disney Censor's note on this image in 2012 "would have been inappropriate for the channel" (to avoid paper trail).

Chris Nee, creator of Doc McStuffins, was absent in the discussion. In response to Hirsch, Nee wrote, "Love it. I had to go to the mat to get my 2 mom episodes in the doc. Very happy to see the line keep moving."Doc McStuffins was broadcast on the Disney Channel and Disney Jr. from 2012 to 2020. The 2017 episode "The Emergency Plan" features a lesbian couple as their parents.

These 3 creators talk about their experiences with Disney, but creators elsewhere face similar hurdles. In a recent interview, Rebecca Sugar (Stephen Universe) and Noel Stevenson (Sheila and the Princess in Power) talked about their struggle to persuade executives to approve the portrayal of queer relationships. The Stephen Universe was produced by Cartoon Network and produced by Dreamworks Animation on Netflix.

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