Victoria Alonso Fought Disney's Decision To Blur Gay Pride References in 'Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania'

Marvel

Apr 16

Back in March, there was news that Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso has left the company. It was originally reported that she has left for unknown reasons. Then, Disney officially came out and said the dismissal was due to “an indisputable breach of contract and direct violation of company policy” due to Alonso’s work with the Oscar-nominated film, Argentina 1985. Through her lawyer, Alonso has pushed back against this claim and said she was terminated when she refused to do something which she believed was reprehensible.

Insiders believe that the reprehensible act that Alsonso was asked to do was to censor gay Pride references in the latest Marvel release, Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. When the film was being edited, some executives wanted to blur a store window that featured Pride decorations for the Kuwait version of the film. According to sources, this was the only county where the Pride references were blurred. Several other changes made to the Kuwait version of the film include the removal of any references to alcohol and the animated butt cheeks of the character M.O.D.O.K.

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Alsono, who is a gay Latina, has been very outspoken about inclusion during her time at Marvel. She was a champion for diversity within the company and had challenged then-CEO Bob Chapek to push back against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Their sister company, Pixar, also did the same.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time LGBT references have been edited out of Marvel movies in order for them to be shown in certain countries. Disney removed the moment of affection between Aneka and Ayo in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for its release in Kuwait. However, there have been times Disney decided to not edit scenes that were deemed integral to the story. This led to the ban of Pixar’s Lightyear in Saudi Arabia, which featured a same-gender kiss. Marvel’s Eternals was also banned in multiple countries due to the same-gender marriage of the character Phastos, and his husband Ben. Disney has said it will not make an edit if it impacts the storytelling, and would not distribute the content in the market that required an edit.

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