Rapper Snoop Dogg has made a new batch of headlines after his recent comments criticizing the LGBTQ+ representation seen in children’s films. The hip-hop icon used Pixar’s 2022 feature Lightyear as a specific example while talking on Sarah Fontenot’s It’s Giving podcast last week.

Snoop Dogg said he brought his grandson to see the movie, but had trouble articulating his reaction to the inclusion of a same-sex couple in the family film. “Why, my grandson, in the middle of the movie, like, ‘Papa Snoop, how does she have a baby with a woman? She is a woman,” he said on the podcast. “Oh s—, I didn’t come in for this s—. I just came to watch the g—— movie.”

The spinoff feature, which was meant to follow up on the Toy Story film universe, received backlash for the inclusion of a character in a same-sex relationship, including one quick kiss between two women. Disney responded by pulling the scene, but Pixar later reinstated it after internal backlash and a demand for better LGBTQ+ representation.

The Grammy winner was thrown off by his grandson’s question and said he had no answer ready when his grandson interrupted. He told the youngster to keep watching the movie and explained that he didn’t know how two women could have a child. “They just said she had a baby. They are both women. How does she have a baby? S—. The movie ain’t over with,” he added. “I’m scared to go to the movies. Like y’all throwing me in the middle of s— that I don’t have an answer for.”

Snoop Dogg said that was the most frustrating part of the movie for him. He explained that he had to face the situation when his grandson asked questions about characters’ sexuality. “It threw me for a loop,” he said. “These are kids that we have to show that at this age, like, they’re going to ask questions. They are going to ask. I don’t have an answer. And I was just there to go to sleep and watch the movie. That s— woke me up.”

Reaction and Broader Debate About LGBTQ+ Inclusivity

Snoop Dogg’s remarks have already been met with fury from progressive audiences online. The backlash is especially loud because Snoop Dogg is to perform at the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Grand Final later this year. PinkNews reported that AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan defended the decision to keep Snoop Dogg on the program. The AFL has launched numerous inclusion and diversity drives in the past few years, but there have been no indications that the rapper’s appearance will be canceled or pulled.

The same-sex moment was only one of a number of controversies regarding Lightyear. Conservative parents and audiences were upset with the LGBTQ+ moment in the movie and felt it was inappropriate for a children’s film. Lightyear came out in June 2022 but quickly ran into trouble due to conservatives’ complaints, so Disney briefly pulled the brief same-sex kiss from the movie. It was only restored after Pixar employees and LGBTQ+ groups spoke up.

Chris Evans, who voices the titular character in the movie, defended Pixar and Disney during a Reuters Television interview. “The real truth is those people are idiots,” Evans said, referring to critics of the moment. “There’s always going to be people who are afraid and unaware and trying to hold on to what was before. But those people die off like dinosaurs. I think the goal is to pay them no mind, march forward, and embrace the growth that makes us human.”

Lightyear was an experiment of a sort, meant to serve as an origin story for the “real” Buzz Lightyear — the character whose space-age science-fiction heroics were depicted as the source of inspiration for Buzz Lightyear’s cultural fame within the world of the Toy Story universe. Buzz Lightyear was to be voiced by Evans in the movie. Despite significant marketing and brand power from Pixar’s connection to the Toy Story franchise, Lightyear has received only mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, grossing just over $226 million globally. Expectations for the film were much higher in that regard.

The California rapper’s comments add fuel to the still-simmering debate about LGBTQ+ inclusivity in children’s films. Many supporters of inclusivity in the medium feel that representation of modern family dynamics on screen normalizes it and helps children understand the world around them better. Those against it, like Snoop Dogg, feel that young children may be confused or ask questions that their guardians won’t be able to explain, making such films more divisive in families.

With the rapper still due to perform at AFL’s Grand Final, he doesn’t appear to be backing down from his statements. While his international reputation could take a hit after these podcast comments, Snoop Dogg has once again found himself at the center of debates about how children’s films should or shouldn’t portray modern family life.