It seems as though Disney is finally meaningfully bending to pressure from the LGBTQIA+ community and allies over the company’s lukewarm condemnation of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which CEO Bob Chapek initially refused to denounce. As such, in a shockingly progressive move for Disney, a same-sex kiss that was previously cut from the animated Pixar film Lightyear has been restored ahead of the film’s premiere. 6u3a3h

According to Variety, the film features a “significant female character,” voiced by Uzo Aduba, who is in a relationship with another woman. The decision to edit the kiss back into the film comes a week after Pixar employees penned an open letter detailing how Disney corporate executives have had a no-tolerance policy for including just about any queer characters or stories into their content.

“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” states the letter, likewise shared by Variety. “Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar. Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it. Beyond the “inspiring content” that we aren’t even allowed to create, we require action.”

There have been a handful of times that Pixar has managed to fly “unambiguous LGBTQ characters” under the radar, such as when two moms hug their child goodbye at kindergarten in 2019’s Toy Story 4 or when 2016’s Finding Dory features a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of what appears to be a lesbian couple. Likewise, a one-eyed cop played by Lena Waithe who appears in a few scenes in 2020’s Onward at one point mentions her girlfriend.

In addition to the letter from Pixar employees, news of the kiss also lands square on the heels of reports that another same-sex kiss was nixed from a Blue Sky Studios adaptation of ND Stevenson’s graphic novel Nimona before the project was shelved altogether when Disney shut down the entire studio, shortly thereafter acquiring it from 20th Century Fox.

Disney’s hand has clearly been forced in the matter, but even forced progress is still progress. Watch Pixar make LGBTQIA+ history when Lightyear arrives in theaters on June 17, 2022.

Despite a cloud of controversy still lingering from last year, when the complete lack of diversity in the organization generated outrage and scrutiny, this year’s Golden Globes announcements are still generating plenty of excitement.

Fans are lauding the announcement that Squid Game, the surprise breakout Netflix hit, has pulled down several nominations, including nods for Best Drama, Best Actor in a Drama, and Best ing Actor in a Series, TV movie or Mini-series. Succession, as expected by many, also gained multiple nods, including dual Best Actor nominations for both Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong. Other notable nominees in the TV categories include Ted Lasso, Uzo Aduba, Issa Rae, Only Murders in the Building, and WandaVision.

Critical darlings The Power of the Dog and Belfast were the standouts of the Movie nominations with each garnering seven nominations apiece. King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Don’t Look Up, and West Side Story all followed with four noms going to each.

The 79th annual awards announcements were made Monday morning by Snoop Dogg in an interesting, to say the least, choice of personality that may be seeking to contrast the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s formerly lily-white makeup. Despite excitement over the announcements, many on social media are raising eyebrows that the lack of diversity in the Association has yet to be truly addressed.

As of May of this year, none of the Association’s 87 was a person of color. This fact was instrumental in NBC’s decision to not air the 2022 ceremony. NBC has stated that they, “believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform. However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right. Assuming the organization executes on its plan, we are hopeful we will be in a position to air the show in January 2023.”

The HFPA has overhauled its submissions and nominations processes since May and has hired a more diverse board with 21 new . The ceremony will take place on January 9th but it remains to be seen what kind of star power will be walking down the red carpet for the untelevised affair. The Critics Choice Awards will take place on the same night and will be airing on the CW that same evening.