Hip-hop veteran Snoop Dogg has been stoking new controversy after a comment he made about the presence of LGBTQ+ characters in children’s movies. The rapper mentioned Pixar’s 2022 film Lightyear in particular when he and a friend were discussing a recent trip to the cinema with his grandson.

Dog talked about the experience on the It’s Giving podcast hosted by Sarah Fontenot earlier this month. The rapper described how he took his grandson to see Lightyear recently, and that they were both not prepared for the inclusion of a same-sex couple.

Lightyear is an animated spinoff of Pixar’s blockbuster Toy Story franchise that imagines the backstory of the popular Buzz Lightyear character. The film generated controversy for a scene in which one of the major characters is in a same-sex relationship. In a scene that was cut following initial backlash, a minor character briefly kisses another female character. Disney eventually restored the brief moment after internal complaints over the removal of the moment and demands from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups that it be reinstated.

Snoop Dogg described how, during the film, his grandson posed a question to him about how the two women could have a baby together. “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 told Fontenot. “Oh s—, I didn’t come in for this s—. I just came to watch the g—— movie.”

He added that he did not know how to respond to the question and instead told his grandson to watch and see how the story explained it. “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 continued. “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.”

Dog further explained that what troubled him about the situation was how kids can inadvertently raise topics and questions when films like this “mix it up.” “It threw me for a loop,” he added. “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.”

Social Media Backlash and Broader Representational Culture Wars

Dog’s comments were met with outrage by a segment of the internet, with particular ire over the fact that he is set to perform at the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final later this year. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan expressed support for the rapper’s continued inclusion in the event, despite demands for him to be dropped.

The AFL’s AFL inclusion and diversity policies are well established in public, so it remains to be seen whether the league will maintain its position with Snoop Dogg following his latest controversy. The rapper’s comments come in the latest round of pushback against the representation of LGBTQ+ characters in children’s films, with Lightyear often in the middle of the fray.

The inclusion of the same-sex kiss in the movie when it came out in June 2022 also drew criticism. Conservatives argued that it was inappropriate to include such a scene in a film aimed at kids, and it eventually got cut as a result of the backlash.

After the removal, the scene was added back in after internal pushback and complaints that it was a nod to diversity from Pixar employees. LGBTQ+ groups also put pressure on Disney to reinstate the moment, which is just one of several such calls for action as the company looks to include more in its feature films.

Chris Evans, who voices Buzz Lightyear in the film, also addressed the issue when the movie first came out. “The real truth is those people are idiots,” Evans said in an interview with Reuters Television. “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, for its part, is an attempt by Pixar to expand on the Toy Story franchise with a spinoff movie that imagines the life of the “real” Buzz Lightyear. The actual Buzz Lightyear within the animated world of Toy Story is a space-age science-fiction action hero and adventurer, whose toy was the inspiration for the movie series. Lightyear has failed to find the audience that other recent Pixar movies have seen at the box office, with a just over $226 million global haul falling far short of expectations.

The rapper and rapper have been at the center of controversy over such movies before. Snoop added further fuel to the fires surrounding the issue by not backing down or apologizing for his latest comments. Whether the rapper’s Australian performance will be subject to extra protest, and whether his worldwide reputation will suffer as a result, remains to be seen.