Beau DeMayo, the fired X-Men ’97 showrunner, recently claimed he was instructed by Disney executives to make Magneto and Professor X “less gay.”

Beau DeMayo via Cool YouTube Guy YouTube

DeMayo shared his experience following ScreenRant’s coverage of a rumor from IGN’s Alex Stedman, which cited multiple anonymous individuals at Disney, and claimed that Disney executives blamed the failure of Lightyear on its inclusion of a gay kiss and instructed Pixar creatives to make Inside Out 2 “less gay.”

One source told Stedman, “It is, as far as I know, still a thing, where leadership, they’ll bring up Lightyear specifically and say, ‘Oh, Lightyear was a financial failure because it had a queer kiss in it. That’s not the reason the movie failed.”

INSIDE OUT 2 – FOGHORN’S JOY – In Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” newly minted teenager Riley (voice of Kensington Tallman), her besties Bree (voice of Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green) and Grace (voice of Grace Lu), and their hockey team the Foghorns win the championship. Directed by Kelsey Mann and produced by Mark Nielsen, “Inside Out 2” releases only in theaters June 14, 2024. © 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Regarding Inside Out 2, Stedman wrote, “Multiple people recall hearing about continuous notes to make Riley, the main character of both Inside Out movies, come across as “less gay,” leading to numerous edits that ramped up around September 2023 after the resolution of the WGA strike.”

“Sources describe rumors that there was special care put into making the relationship between Riley and Val, a supporting character introduced in Inside Out 2, seem as platonic as possible, even requiring edits to the lighting and tone of certain scenes to remove any trace of ‘romantic chemistry,” he added.

One source told him that Pixar did “a lot of extra work to make sure that no one would potentially see them as not straight.”

BELIEF SYSTEM – In Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” Riley’s Sense of Self is made up of all of her beliefs, each of which can be heard with the pluck of a string. Sadness (voice of Phyllis Smith) and Joy (voice of Amy Poehler) deliver key memories to this formative land. “Inside Out 2” releases only in theaters June 14, 2024. © 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

DeMayo reacted to ScreenRant’s coverage writing on X, “Heard the same words “less gay” on X-Men ’97 when it came to Magnus and Xavier, as well as marketing.”

Beau DeMayo on X

He also reacted to Attitude’s coverage of IGN’s report writing on X, “This happens a lot more than you think. Often, it’s done more subtly. For example, the X-Men ’97 crew and I fought hard to have Storm’s skin tone darker and more accurate to her heritage versus the OG show”

DeMayo continued, “Marvel noted that if we’re being so accurate about her skin color, then Storm shouldn’t have white hair either. These sort of micro-aggressive notes are designed to domino backwards to kill the initial idea, as Marvel knows we’re not changing Storm’s hair color.”

He then accused executives of racism, “Then came the usual racist ‘well if Storm’s too dark, we won’t be able to see her in nighttime or dark scenes.’ We went ahead and did it anyway. Turns out there’s a thing in animation called ‘lighting.’”

Beau DeMayo on X

In another post he went on to claim that at one point during the show Disney requested he put briefs on Magneto when he was crucified on an X. DeMayo’s original idea was to have him naked.

DeMayo wrote on X, “Originally, he was nude and the beat played as dehumanizing torture. It was Marvel’s idea to put him in briefs. The crew and I were so beaten down by that point we just gave each other looks, knowing their note would do the opposite. Such is ignorance…”

Beau DeMayo on X

He also claimed that executives misinterpreted “two males exchanging a look of brotherly solidarity before battle as ‘too gay.’” He claimed that one executive described it as a “creepy.”

Beau DeMayo on X

DeMayo’s claim are suspect given the show was heavily promoted by claiming that Morph was non-binary. As part of Empire Magazine’s April 2024 magazine, the outlet shared a brief tease of Morph’s story and character.

The outlet’s Helen O’Hara wrote, “The death of shapeshifter Morph in the original animated series (it didn’t stick, obviously) was shocking for young viewers, and it stuck with DeMayo.”

DeMayo then added, “He really set the stakes and he had a very interesting relationship with the team because of trauma.”

Next, O’Hara shared, “This is a lighter take on the character, who is nonbinary and has an interesting buddy relationship with Wolverine. The character’s past with Mister Sinister, the show’s villain could also come into play.”

(L-R): Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith), Beast (voiced by George Buza), Jubilee (voiced by Holly Chou), Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Morph (voiced by JP Karliak), Gambit (voiced by AJ LoCascio), Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann), Jean Grey (voiced by Jennifer Hale), and Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

DeMayo had previously indicated that Morph would be a so-called “non-binary” character during an X-Men ’97 panel at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2022.

While introducing the character, DeMayo stated, “Morph decided to show a little bit of a different side to themselves this season. We’re going to go with the changeling look.”

DeMayo made it clear to use “themselves” rather than refer to him as a male.

DeMayo also revealed during an X-Men 60 Uncanny Years live stream hosted by Marvel that the entire series was based on his experience as a black gay man.

He stated, “Came up with a pitch, pitched it to Kevin Feige and, you know, him and Brad [Winderbaum] could not have been more supportive and also just encouraging to make sure we got it right.”

“I think one of my favorite parts was like they were truly interested in like what my experience as a black gay man was and how it was going to inform the story we were telling. And that to them was like that is how we’re going to make this authentic,” he continued.

DeMayo and Marvel Animation also cast self-described radical queer activist J.P Karliak to voice the character. In an interview with CBR Karliak discussed the backlash Marvel received for wokeifying Morph.

He told the outlet, “I’m a queer activist. I run a nonprofit that advocates for queer representation. I also co-founded a voter registration organization. I know what’s going on in the world, especially politically, so no, it didn’t surprise me at all. [laughs]”

“I think what I appreciated was how much counter-backlash there was, with people like ‘Have you watched the X-Men? Are you familiar with why they were created and what they’re about? Did you forget that?’ That was reassuring,” he added.

Karliak then detailed, “I haven’t really taken offense with anything anybody’s published, as much as they’ve tried. [laughs] There was one article that called me a radical queer activist and listed the insidious mission statement of my organization — verbatim of what was on the website .I was like ‘Facts. No lies here, thanks for the promotion!’ [laughs]”

(L-R): Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd) and Morph (voiced by JP Karliak) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

Not only did Karliak confirm he’s a radical queer activist, but he also shared how the show is trying to normalize his activism when he was asked about Morph’s pronouns.

He said, “Two things about that – one, as far as I know, we’re never going to say the word ‘non-binary’ because nobody said the word ‘non-binary’ in the ’90s. It’s not that it didn’t exist; it was just in no way a mainstream term at the time.”

“Morph’s understanding of who he is could equate to what a modern person would say is non-binary, but he just doesn’t have the terminology for it,” he continued. “At the same time, they/them wasn’t a concept in terms of using it as a pronoun.”

(L-R): Forge (voiced by Gil Birmingham), Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith), Beast (voiced by George Buza), and Morph (voiced by JP Karliak) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

This promotion of transgender ideology was also defended by the original X-Men: The Animated Series creators Larry Houston and Eric Lewald. Houston told Variety, “For me, the word ‘nonbinary’ is the same as the word ‘shapeshifter.’ Every character that can change from one gender to another, or from human to animal, that’s just another word for ‘shapeshifter’ for me.”

As for Lewald, he pointed to Morph shapeshifting into Rogue, Storm, and Jean Grey in Season 2. He said, “He attacks Wolverine, his closest friend, in the most dramatic way by turning into Jean Grey and putting his hand on Wolverine’s neck and leaning in for a kiss. That’s as nonbinary as you can get.”

“It’s Morph turning into a woman and coming onto Wolverine to freak him out,” he explained. “It was all there in Morph’s character. Now it’s become such a social thing that I think people will be more sensitive to how it’s used. That’s the only difference. We didn’t see a problem in reading him and didn’t feel he was any different.”

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 13: (L-R) Eric Lewald, Larry Houston, Margaret Loesch and Julia Lewald attend the X-Men ’97 Launch Event at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 13, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

What do you make of DeMayo’s claims?