Disney Faces More “Colorism” Accusations After ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Casting

Disney seems to be on a roll when it comes to the new Lilo & Stitch remake — but not in a good way! In less than a week, Disney has alienated its audience members not once but twice with the announcement of two “light-skinned” actors in the roles of two dark-skinned animated characters.

Disney’s penchant for live-action remakes of its animated films (such as the Halle Bailey version of The Little Mermaid) has already been rubbing many Disney viewers the wrong way, and once the casting announcement was made for Nani (the sister of Lilo in the original 2002 movie Lilo & Stitch), audiences were only more displeased.

Nani is being played by Sydney Elizabeth Agudong, a Hawaiian actress who is reportedly too “light-skinned” for many viewers’ liking since Nani is “Indigenous Hawaiian with strong features and dark skin.”

Now, Disney has made things worse by announcing the casting of another light-skinned actor in a dark-skinned Lilo & Stitch role just days later!

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has chosen an unknown actor named Kahiau Machado to play David Kawena, Nani’s cheerful love interest in the Disney movie.

Although Kahiau Machado is a handsome surfer and actor — with one Twitter user specifically citing the actor’s attractiveness as their reason for agreeing to see the new movie, in a Tweet shown below — his casting in the role of David Kawena is already ruffling plenty of feathers, just like the casting of Sydney Elizabeth Adugong in the role of Nani did so very recently.

Okay, fine … I’ll see it! 😘 #KahiauMachado #LiloAndStitch https://t.co/fuUVAlcc6F pic.twitter.com/VPSeEmEmbs

— Marc Wheeler (@mcwheeler) April 17, 2023

 

One Twitter user defended Disney’s casting choices for the remake of the 2002 cult classic, saying that “Hawaiians aren’t as dark as portrayed in Lilo & Stitch.”

“It was a stylistic choice made by the design team to differentiate these mains from other properties,” the Twitter user claimed, declaring that “so far, the castings are fine.”

https://twitter.com/midnight_chrome/status/1648087554850168833

Unfortunately, there is already some additional controversy surrounding the newly-minted Disney actor who is playing David Kawena.

Many Internet users are attacking the actor for an offensively-named Spotify playlist (that has reportedly been deleted since then) and for making an ill-advised Rosa Parks joke.

Were you surprised by Disney’s casting choices for the Lilo & Stitch remake, which is being directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and will also reportedly star actor Zach Galifianakis as the alien Pleakley and newcomer Maia Kealoha as Lilo?

Did “colorism” and “whitewashing” come to mind when you saw the images of Sydney Elizabeth Adugong and Kahiau Machado?