The creator of animated show 'Gravity Falls' shared censorship requests Disney sent him — like asking him to tone down signs of affection between two male characters

"Gravity Falls" creator Alex Hirsch shared censorship notes from Disney he received for the show.
One note asked to revise a moment where a male character puts his arm around another male character.
Disney has been embroiled in controversy over its depiction, or lack of, LGBTQ+ representation.

The creator of the Disney Channel animated series "Gravity Falls," which ran from 2012 to 2016, shared on Twitter on Thursday numerous standards-and-practices notes that Disney gave him for the show, and his responses.

Alex Hirsch, the creator, tweeted that the interactions are "100% real" and that he still wakes up "in cold sweats thinking about" the "thousands" of censorship notes he received on the series from Disney.

Disney representatives did not immediately return a request for comment from Insider.

One of Disney's concerns regarded two male characters, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, showing "flirtatious" affection towards one another.

"Please revise the action of Blubs putting his arm around Durland," the censors wrote, according to Hirsch. "As noted in previous concerns, their affectionate relationship should remain comical versus flirtatious."

Hirsch replied: "Nope. They're ... buddies. Chill out."

"The gesture is approved in this context," Disney responded, according to Hirsch.

—Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) June 16, 2022

Hirsch has spoken out before about Disney's concerns with LGBTQ+ themes in "Gravity Falls."

In 2020, he tweeted that Disney "forbade" him from depicting any explicit LGBTQ+ representation in the series. Though, he went on to applaud Disney for evolving and featuring queer characters in its animated series years after "Gravity Falls" ended.

Disney has been embroiled in controversy recently over its handling of LGBTQ+ representation in its content. Its initial lack of response to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which prohibits sexuality and gender education in kindergarten through the third grade, sparked outcry from staffers.

Since then, some have spoken out about how the company has hindered LGBTQ+ themes in movies and TV. After Pixar staffers released a statement in March accusing cuts to "nearly every moment of overtly gay affection" in its movies, Disney restored a same-sex kiss to "Lightyear," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Three former staffers of the now-defunct animation studio Blue Sky, which Disney shut down last year, told Insider in March that Disney leadership had taken issue with a same-sex kiss in its movie "Nimona" (the movie has since been revived by Netflix for an expected 2023 release).

Other censorship notes Hirsch said he received from Disney included:

revising the phrase "chub pub" on a t-shirt because the word "chub" has a "sexual connotation.
revising the term "hoo-ha" because "it's a slang term for vagina."

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