‘Heard the same words’: Marvel’s new nemesis Beau DeMayo reveals how Disney forced him to make ‘X-Men ’97’ characters ‘less gay’

when Lightyear came out, and we all more or less agreed as a collective that it was a mediocre-at-best film with an absolutely insane plot that was no fun to follow, and generally didn’t live up to even the most hopeful expectations that a Toy Story spinoff would promise?

Well, Disney—the same company that pointed to the fine print of a Disney Plus free trial to even be interpreted as queer.

And now, Beau DeMayo, the creative champion who brought us X-Men ’97, was fired by Disney, and has since cemented himself as Disney’s loudest nemesis, has chimed in on the ordeal.

Responding to an article regarding Disney’s “less gay” policy that impacted the final cut of Inside Out 2, DeMayo revealed that X-Men ’97 was treated similarly by Disney’s suits, noting that both the show’s marketing and the relationship between Magneto and Professor X were all tweaked so as to prevent any interpretations of queer romantic chemistry.

One pointed out how one scene in particular indicated that the suits failed quite spectacularly in their efforts to make X-Men ’97 read as un-queer as possible.

The scene in question is when Magneto was being held captive by Bastion in the first season’s eighth episode, where Magneto can be seen strapped to a giant X wearing nothing but a pair of black briefs and a mutation-inhibiting collar, seen below.

Now, if someone told you that this image was the suits’ best attempt to prevent X-Men ’97 from being read as queer, you would of course have the laugh of a lifetime. But, according to DeMayo, it was, and his vision for the scene read very differently than the final cut.

The original scene had Magneto completely nude (which DeMayo clarified in a further reply would be counteracted by keeping Magneto’s bits hidden by shadows and foreground items), and the scene was intended to read as an example of dehumanization; queer stylings were not part of the equation. Along came Disney with the idea to put Magneto in the briefs, completely oblivious to how that was going to change the scene, the way viewers responded to it, and ultimately conflict with their sanitization doctrine.

DeMayo had little time for the “I have no issues with gay stories but…” folk as well.

But let’s unpack this even further, because this is a ripe teaching moment. The first season of X-Men ’97 demonstrated a full-body commitment to fantastic, emotionally-resonant storytelling, and the behind-the-scenes revelations that DeMayo is bringing us via X only compounds the fact of that statement.

Enter Disney, who are so afraid of queerness that they’ll rejigger moments in a story that could even potentially be interpreted as queer so as to prevent such a thing, all in spite of the scenes existing for explicitly different reasons, like brotherly solidarity or portraying dehumanization.

So when this Twitter bot says something like “pushing social things,” what are they really saying? Is Disney not the one pushing their “less gay” agenda onto things that aren’t even intended to be gay in the first place? DeMayo came to them with a great story, and then Disney pushed their “social thing” onto it.

This comment, coming when DeMayo wasn’t even talking about gay stories, but of story beats that could maybe, possibly be interpreted as gay. Why specify that you don’t have an issue with gay stories when the conversation isn’t about gay stories? Can you imagine how obnoxious the world would be if everyone was desperate to let each other know that they “don’t have an issue with straight stories?”

Bottom line: Disney suits are clueless, X-Men ’97 will be worse without DeMayo’s involvement, homophobia exists, and I am exhausted. Carry on.