‘Lilo & Stitch’ Getting Caught in Racist Backlash Is Bad Optics for Disney

Disney hasn’t been having the best of times since announcing that a live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch was on the cards, with the completely unnecessary do-over coming under fire for whitewashing one of its biggest roles.

While the furor has died down somewhat after Courtney B. Vance’s casting as Cobra Bubbles assuaged any doubts that the blockbuster retread would be omitting one of the animated original’s most beloved characters, the film has nonetheless been forced to recast a major role already after a racist controversy surfaced.

Having already been accused of colorism, Kaipo Dudoit was dropped from Lilo & Stitch just days after being announced as part of the ensemble, after it came to light during the studio’s vetting process that the actor tapped to play David Kawena had used racial slurs as part of his historical social media activity.

As you can imagine, the ball being dropped yet again in the most embarrassing of fashion hasn’t exactly done much to further endear Lilo & Stitch V2.0 to the masses who were already being highly critical of its entire assembly so far.

With the shadow of Jonathan Majors looming large over Disney as the inquest into the Marvel Cinematic Universe star’s assault allegations continue, another high-profile spate of bad headlines wasn’t what the company needed. At least it moved fast in this instance, although there’s a very long way to go until the Lilo & Stitch doubters even come close to being won over.

via Disney

Disney hasn’t been having the best of times since announcing that a live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch was on the cards, with the completely unnecessary do-over coming under fire for whitewashing one of its biggest roles.

While the furor has died down somewhat after Courtney B. Vance’s casting as Cobra Bubbles assuaged any doubts that the blockbuster retread would be omitting one of the animated original’s most beloved characters, the film has nonetheless been forced to recast a major role already after a racist controversy surfaced.

Having already been accused of colorism, Kaipo Dudoit was dropped from Lilo & Stitch just days after being announced as part of the ensemble, after it came to light during the studio’s vetting process that the actor tapped to play David Kawena had used racial slurs as part of his historical social media activity.

As you can imagine, the ball being dropped yet again in the most embarrassing of fashion hasn’t exactly done much to further endear Lilo & Stitch V2.0 to the masses who were already being highly critical of its entire assembly so far.

With the shadow of Jonathan Majors looming large over Disney as the inquest into the Marvel Cinematic Universe star’s assault allegations continue, another high-profile spate of bad headlines wasn’t what the company needed. At least it moved fast in this instance, although there’s a very long way to go until the Lilo & Stitch doubters even come close to being won over.