Fired Executive Fought With Disney Over Blurring Gay Pride References in New Movie

Last week, shockwaves were sent through Disney and the entertainment industry when the company announced that longtime Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso was leaving the company. At first, it wasn’t shared why she was leaving, only that Alonso and Disney were parting ways. Disney and Alonso had worked closely together for more than a decade. However, not long after Alonso’s exit, things quickly devolved. It was revealed that Alonso was fired for what Disney claimed was a “breach of contract.” Alonso’s representatives fought back, and said that Ms. Alonso was considering pursuing legal action against the company.

According to Disney, Ms. Alonso was terminated because of her work on the Oscar-nominated film, Argentina, 1985. Alonso’s contract did not allow her to work with other studios while working for Marvel. Argentina, 1985 was made by Amazon Studios and was close to Alonso’s heart, as she was born and raised in Argentina. However, Alonso is disputing Disney’s claim. Ms. Alonso’s reps have said that she spoke to Disney about working on the film, and they gave her their blessing. She would not have worked on the film if Disney did not agree to it.

Furthermore, Ms. Alonso’s reps claim that the Marvel executive was being punished because she criticized Disney.

“Victoria, a gay Latina who had the courage to criticize Disney, was silenced. Then she was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible.”

At first, they did not say what that “reprehensible” thing was. However, we are now learning that it reportedly had something to do with the newest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Sources who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney had asked Alonso to blur out references to gay pride in the film, so it could be released in Kuwait. Alonso refused to do so.

Per THR:

In January, as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was being readied for release, word came down that Marvel executives wanted an editor to blur a storefront window that featured rainbow decorations and the word “Pride” for the version of the film to be released in Kuwait, which has restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws. The storefront was shown in two brief scenes in which Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) walked down a San Francisco street.

The Quantumania request reached Alonso, whorefused to have her team make the edit as part of her duties overseeing visual effects and postproduction at Marvel, insiders say. Marvel then went to an outside vendor to see the edit through.

Neither Disney nor Ms. Alonso has commented on this new information. This is not the first time that Ms. Alonso has spoken up against Disney. Last year, Alonso spoke at a GLAAD conference and called out Bob Chapek for his lack of a stance on Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill. Mr. Chapek only spoke out against the bill after receiving backlash for saying the bill wasn’t “relevant” to Disney.