“Am I Too Black? Am I Too Queer?” ‘Haunted Mansion’ Director Questions Disney’s Reasons For His Replacement

Disney’s new Haunted Mansion movie might be meant to stand on its own two feet, away from the iconic Eddie Murphy film that was first based on the Disney World and Disneyland rides — but the new Haunted Mansion has already faltered due to the ongoing WGA writers’ strike and the film stars’ absence from the movie premiere.

The director of the movie, Dear White People creator Justin Simien, had a lot to say about Disney CEO Bob Iger (whose criticisms of the writers’ strike have led him into yet another onslaught of backlash) and a lot to say about the writers’ strike in a recent Hollywood Reporter interview.

Laughing in the Face of Disney+

However, the filmmaker (who directed A-list actors like Jamie Lee Curtis, Tiffany Haddish, and Owen Wilson in Haunted Mansion) also had a lot to say about his exit from the Disney+ series Lando, which is being taken over by Donald Glover and Stephen Glover!

When asked about the Lando show, Simien laughed.

“I am attached, I think, but I don’t really know,” he said. “The last thing I was told was that they loved it but needed to put a pin in it until they could figure out everybody’s availability.”

Simien then proceeded to throw some thinly-veiled questions in the direction of Disney+ regarding his planned involvement with the Star Wars show.

“I’m Not an Idiot”

“I haven’t investigated further, but I’m not an idiot,” he said in the interview. “I’m not alone in that experience. But I can’t help but wonder, ‘Am I too Black? Am I too queer? And people just don’t want to say that?'”

“Because it seems like I develop things with these companies,” Justin Simien added pointedly, “and they just never happen for reasons unknown.”

The Glover Brothers Move In

Regardless of Simien’s meaning behind his questions, and regardless of whether or not they were specifically meant to call out Disney+, the fact remains that Donald Glover and Stephen Glover are taking over Lando.

The duo is reportedly working on the show due to “a deal that was apparently made back in May” before the WGA strike began.