Disney Introduces Its First Openly Gay Character In Tom Holland's Onward

24 February 2020, 11:57

Lena Waithe plays Disney's first openly gay character
Lena Waithe plays Disney's first openly gay character. Picture: YouTube

Actress, Lena Waithe, plays Disney's first openly gay character in Pixar's upcoming fantasy adventure, Onward.

Disney have, in the past, confirmed several of their characters to be gay, including LeFou in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, with a cute payoff towards the end of the film.

However, this was only nodded to, as LeFou danced with another male partygoer, whereas Disney have now introduced their first openly lesbian character in Onward.

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The Pixar film, which also stars Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, see American screenwriter and actress, Lena Waithe, portray Officer Specter, a cyclops who happens to mention she has a girlfriend.

As the character interrogates Tom and Chris' brothers, Ian and Barley, Specter mentions her girlfriend and child, which isn't necessary to the plot, but is simply expanding on her character's identity.

Director, Dan Scanlon - who based the tale of Onward on his own life - said "[Onward's] a modern fantasy world, and we want to represent the modern world."

Tom Holland stars as Ian Lightfoot in Disney's Onward
Tom Holland stars as Ian Lightfoot in Disney's Onward. Picture: Getty

Whilst her character only appears in one scene, many have praised Disney for its representation. For example, one of Ian's (Tom Holland) classmates can be seen walking on crutches.

Lena Waithe also shared her excitement with being Disney's first openly gay character, by sharing a new snippet on her Insatgram to her 840k followers, simply captioning it with the rainbow emoji.

The Master of None star became engaged in 2017 to her long-time girlfriend, Alana Mayo, and married her in 2019 in San Francisco, but later separated after two months of marriage.

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