If you love Disney, you have probably seen the joke online about “Disney’s first openly gay character.” It pops up all the time. Every time Disney releases a new movie or introduces a new cast member, people bring it back. The joke comes from the idea that Disney keeps calling different characters their “first gay character,” even though they have already done that many times before.
People online say Disney does this to look good without giving real representation. They point out that the characters announced as “gay” are usually small roles, very short scenes, or moments that can be easily removed. Many fans feel like it is more about marketing than actually supporting the LGBTQ+ community. So the meme has become a way to laugh at how repetitive it all feels.
The joke returned again this week. And this time it spread because of a new character people are calling the “lesbian beaver.”
Disney released the official cast portraits for Zootopia 2. The movie comes out later this month. The cast is full of big names. Shakira and Jason Bateman are back. New faces include Ke Huy Quan, Macaulay Culkin, Quinta Brunson, and Robert Irwin. Comedian Fortune Feimster is also joining the film. She will be voicing a beaver named Nibbles Maplestick.
Feimster is openly lesbian. She came out in 2005 and has been happily married since 2020. So when fans saw the cast reveal, the jokes started immediately. People connected the fact that a lesbian actress is playing a beaver and revived the old meme.
One user on X said, “Disney’s first openly gay character, a beaver played by a lesbian.” They later clarified that it was only a joke and that no one knows if the character is actually gay. Another person laughed that Disney could not have made the joke more obvious. More comments followed. People joked that Disney now has their “fifth first openly gay character.” Others said it feels like the fiftieth. Fans were simply having fun with the old running joke, adding to the long list of times Disney has been teased for the same thing.
The whole moment shows how the internet never gets tired of poking fun at Disney’s repeated announcements. And for many, the joke still lands every single time.