Disney pulls cartoon episode of male ‘trans’ character playing in girls’ sports 

CV NEWS FEED // The New York Post on Thursday announced that Disney will no longer air an episode of its show “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” that focuses on a defiant “transgender” character participating in girls’ sports.

The children’s action show, geared towards kids ages six to 12, focuses on the Marvel superhero Moon Girl, who leads a double life as student Lunella Lafayette alongside her red T-Rex sidekick Devil Dinosaur. 

The now-shelved episode, titled “The Gatekeeper,” was leaked on YouTube and has been pulled from airing on Disney+ in 2025. Polygon explained that the episode focused on a recurring character from the show, “Brooklyn,” a “transgender” classmate of Lunella Lafayette, who is barred from competing on the girls’ volleyball team at school.

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The episode paints an athletic coach as a villain for not allowing Brooklyn to play on the girls’ team, Polygon reported:

Brooklyn’s comments about her athletic past are overheard by the opposing team’s coach, Greer (played by Amy Sedaris), who tries to have the teenager disqualified from the game. But Brooklyn’s coach, gym teacher Coach Hrbek, tells Greer, “Brooklyn IS a girl, and she’s gonna play.” The episode then veers into supervillain territory, as Greer uses a magical key to confine Brooklyn, her teammates, and water girl Lunella in the girl’s locker room.

Throughout the episode, Brooklyn – presented as a male who has “transitioned” to become female – makes various comments about his gender identity. “I’m trans, my very existence breaks Greer’s rules,” he says in one scene. In another, he refers to “the darkness of me having to play on the boys’ team.”

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Brooklyn also displays his trans identity by wearing and displaying LGBTQ athletic paraphernalia such as “pride” knee pads and a sticker on her athletic water bottle that reads “trans is beautiful.” According to Polygon, the episode also displays color themes from the “transgender” flag and LGBTQ pride flag. 

The New York Post stated that one of the members of the show’s storyboard team, Derrick Malik Johnson, complained on social media that the episode was being pulled from airing “because of which party that won the recent election.” Johnson added: “It breaks my heart knowing this impactful and amazing is now about to be considered a lost media episode.”

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Animators and artists employed on other Disney shows also complained about the episode being pulled. Artist Emmy Cicirega, employed by Disney’s show “Gravity Falls,” wrote in an X post about the work that potentially went into the episode. “Disney should be ashamed of themselves for canning this episode,” she wrote. “You don’t get to approve approve approve something and then destroy it at the last minute, shattering the crew’s hard work and hopes.”

Disney animator Matt Braly shamed Disney for pulling the episode, arguing that the “transgender” storyline was necessary following the 2024 Presidential election.

The “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” episode was created during the ongoing fight to protect women’s and girl’s sports, a topic that became a central issue in the 2024 presidential election.

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President-elect Donald Trump ran his campaign on reversing the Biden administration’s stance on Title IX protections. Under President Joe Biden, the Title IX provision on “sex” had been altered to include “gender identity,” which has impacted women’s protections in sports, locker rooms, and female-only spaces. 

When speaking to Harris Faulkner on “The Faulkner Focus,” Trump was asked about how to stop the tidal wave of male athletes who claim to be female being allowed to compete in female-only divisions.

“You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen,” Trump said.

Following the election, Trump announced his plans to introduce a bill to protect women’s sports that affirmatively ends Biden’s interpretation of Title IX, thereby effectively barring “transgender” athletes from participating in sports divisions that do not align with their true sexes.

“I will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States Government are male and female and they are assigned at birth,” stated Trump. “The bill will also make clear that Title IX prohibits men from participating in women’s sports.”