‘Conservatives would have a meltdown’: Ugh, the live action ‘Lilo & Stitch’ trailer suggests Disney might have ‘unwoked’ Pleakley

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Fresh off the release of the trailer for Lilo & Stitch, fans are questioning whether Disney made the decision to ‘un-woke’ one of its most beloved characters, Pleakey.The trailer for Disney’s live-action remake of the beloved animation just arrived ahead of the film’s release in May.

In it, we get all sorts of insights around what awaits us in the movie, from what’s sure to be a star-making turn for Lilo actress Maia Kealoha to the long-awaited return of everyone’s favorite alien not-dog, voiced by original Stitch actor (and creator) Chris Sanders. 

Amid all the mayhem that naturally follows the blue alien, fans caught what they deemed to be a major change to the original costuming and design of Pleakey, the fellow alien sent to earth to retrieve Stitch. In the first animated film, which was released in 2002, Pleakey delivers comic relief as he dons female clothes and accessories as human ‘disguises’ in his mission to retrieve Stitch, but the 2025 version of the character seems to have done away completely with that long running gag.

Played by Billy Magnussen, the live-action iteration of Pleakey makes his disguise out of the human form of the actor himself. Even then, Magnussen is not seen wearing any of the gender-bending disguises that became a beloved hallmark of the original character. This move, according to some fans, was Disney’s attempt to prevent any backlash that might have arisen from having a male character dressed in drag. Truly, a sign of the times. 

“They gave Pleakley normal human disguises instead of their girly dress ups?” one X user wrote in response to the change in characterization, with another adding that “they’re really ‘unwoking’ Lilo & Stitch.” Many other Disney-heads agreed with this sentiment, saying their “only criticism” of the Lilo & Stitch trailer was that “Pleakley has a human disguise instead of his cross dressing.” According to some fans, this change was an attempt to appease certain audiences, since “conservatives would have a meltdown” if Pleakey dressed in drag for the reboot.

Going a step further, one fan theorized that Pleakey’s non-drag disguises prove that “Disney can and will cater to the Right if they think it’ll help the bottom line.” Even beyond Disney’s supposed intentions in removing Pleakey’s crossdressing, some fans simply found the change lacked the fun and novelty of the original character. “The original made it a lot funnier,” one X user wrote, with another lamenting how “there is no color” for the live-action version of Pleakey. 

While it remains to be seen whether Magnussen will remain completely out of drag for Lilo & Stitch, this isn’t the first time the reboot has attracted controversy. Disney received criticism in 2023 when it announced that the iconic role of Cobra Bubbles would not be played by Ving Rhames — who voiced the character in 2002 — but by Courtney Vance. Then, the studio was yet again under fire for the casting choice of light-skinned Hawaiian actress Sydney Elizabeth Agudong in the role of Nani, which some took as evidence of whitewashing. 

Meanwhile, Kahiau Machado — who was tapped to play Nani’s love interest David Kawena — was at the center of similar accusations given his lighter skin tone. We’ll see whether all the hullabaloo affected the film’s quality when Lilo & Stitch hits cinemas on May 23.

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