Rapper Snoop Dogg has sparked a heated debate after voicing his discomfort with LGBTQ+ themes in children’s media, specifically referencing Disney’s 2022 animated film Lightyear. The controversy erupted following Snoop Dogg’s appearance on the “It’s Giving” podcast, where he recounted an awkward moment while watching the film with his grandson. The episode, initially edited to remove his comments, was later restored after public backlash, propelling the discussion into the spotlight and igniting passionate responses from both supporters and critics.
During the podcast, Snoop Dogg described taking his grandchildren to see Lightyear, a Pixar spinoff from the beloved Toy Story universe. The film, which features Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear, includes a storyline where Buzz’s best friend, Alisha Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba), falls in love with and marries a woman named Kiko. The pair raise a child together, and a brief yet pivotal scene shows them sharing a kiss at their son’s graduation. This moment, though fleeting, became the focal point of Snoop Dogg’s unease.
“They’re like, ‘She had a baby, with another woman.’ Well, my grandson, in the middle of the movie is like, ‘Papa Snoop? How she have a baby with a woman? She’s a woman!’” Snoop Dogg recalled on the podcast. He continued, “Oh s, I didn’t come in for this s. I just came to watch the godd movie. They just said, she and she had a baby, they’re both women. How does she have a baby?” According to The Independent, Snoop admitted, “It fed me up. I’m like, scared to go to the movies. Y’all throwing me in the middle of s*** that I don’t have an answer for. It threw me for a loop. I’m like, ‘What part of the movie was this?’ These are kids. We have to show that at this age? They’re going to ask questions. I don’t have the answer.”
The rapper’s candor about his discomfort quickly drew widespread criticism online. As reported by 9 News Australia, social media users were quick to push back against Snoop Dogg’s remarks, with some even calling for his upcoming performance at the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final to be canceled. One Instagram user commented, “Big bad gangster Snoop Dogg but yet is afraid of two women having a baby? Did I get that right? Lol what a joke.” Another wrote, “They’re putting it everywhere because it is everywhere. It’s fair representation, which you should be passionate about. And the answer to how a female and a female can have a baby is adoption, artificial insemination, embryo implant. If the child knows enough about how babies are made they can also know all the ways babies are made. Do better.”
Adding fuel to the fire, the podcast episode itself became a point of contention. The section featuring Snoop Dogg’s remarks was initially edited out of the main upload, but after viewers noticed its absence and voiced their displeasure, the podcast released the clip separately. Comments on YouTube accused the show of deliberately censoring Snoop’s views. “You have removed the piece of the interview when Snoop was elaborating about how to explain to his grandchild about LGBTQ+ content in a cinema movie. Shame on you for removing it,” one viewer wrote. Another added, “There is no ‘mistakenly deleted’ about it. You literally have to go into YouTube studio, find the section and trim it out manually. It's pretty intentional. Now that it's become a viral clip you're kicking yourselves, should have just held to your content and kept it up.”
Some critics pointed out the irony of Snoop Dogg’s reaction, given his 2004 cameo on The L Word, a television series centered on the lives of lesbian and bisexual women in West Hollywood. English singer-songwriter Boy George weighed in on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “So sad to read this from Snoop Dogg. Because you can't turn kids gay by helping them understand that some people are different. You are born gay, just like you are born black or anything else. Kids are a reflection of those who raise them. Come on Snoop, be the legend you are or get some stronger weed! Always your fan. Boy Gay-geous!”
The debate over LGBTQ+ representation in children’s media is hardly new, but Lightyear has been at the center of global controversy since its release. The film was banned in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, due to the depiction of the same-sex couple. According to The Independent, the same-sex kiss was reportedly removed from the film at one point, only to be reinstated after Pixar staff penned an open letter criticizing Disney’s response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In their letter, employees wrote, “Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”
At the film’s London premiere, Chris Evans addressed the controversy head-on, calling objections to the same-sex kiss “frustrating.” He remarked, “It’s great that we are a part of something that’s making steps forward in the social inclusion capacity, but it’s frustrating that there are still places that aren’t where they should be.”
For many, the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and storylines in mainstream children’s entertainment is a long-overdue step toward broader representation and acceptance. Yet, as Snoop Dogg’s experience illustrates, these moments can still spark confusion and discomfort for some parents and grandparents, especially when young children ask questions that adults may feel ill-equipped to answer on the spot. The rapper’s admission—“I don’t have the answer”—resonated with some who share his uncertainty, while others saw it as a call to educate and engage rather than retreat from such conversations.
Meanwhile, the backlash Snoop Dogg faced highlights the shifting expectations around public figures and their responsibility to support inclusion. Critics argue that, given his cultural influence, Snoop Dogg’s reluctance to address LGBTQ+ themes constructively sends the wrong message to both children and adults. Supporters of increased representation argue that children’s natural curiosity should be met with honest, age-appropriate answers, and that shielding them from diverse realities does more harm than good.
On the other hand, Snoop Dogg’s comments have also found sympathy among those who feel that children’s media is changing too quickly and that parents and grandparents deserve more guidance and preparation for these conversations. Some echo his sentiment that “what you see is what you see, and they’re putting it everywhere,” expressing a desire for more control over what young children are exposed to in entertainment.
The episode underscores the broader cultural tug-of-war over who gets to decide what stories are told in family-friendly films—and how those stories are explained to the next generation. As more studios embrace inclusive storytelling, the conversation about how to navigate representation, education, and parental guidance is likely to continue, both in Hollywood and in households around the world.
The dustup over Snoop Dogg’s remarks and the subsequent public reaction is just the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over LGBTQ+ visibility in children’s media. For now, it seems, the question of how—and when—to introduce these topics remains as contentious as ever, with no easy answers in sight.
