‘Put Pleakley in the wig, cowards’: Audiences are frustrated about this character design change in ‘Lilo & Stitch’

The live-action Lilo & Stitch trailer is out, and some people are underwhelmed, to put it mildly. The original cartoon is a beloved classic. Did it really need a live-action update?

You can add a good helping of controversy on top of that. The film is already under scrutiny for whitewashing main characters and casting actors who are lighter-skinned than the original character designs. Now, people have found another issue because the remake seems to have taken out one of the most loved aspects of the original—and it was loved among LGBTQ+ people specifically.

We’re talking about the alien Pleakley and his penchant for cross-dressing. In the original film, Pleakley (and his pal Jumba) wear very unconvincing human disguises while on Earth, with Pleakley always wearing women’s clothing. And he rocks it to the highest extent, despite being a small, green, one-eyed weirdo. But this new Pleakley wears a human hologram to disguise his true form and thus looks like his actor, Billy Magnussen, while on Earth. Where’s the style? Where’s the panache?!

Pleakley lovers are raising eyebrows on social media

Pleakley’s fabulous looks were beloved long before there was even talk of a live-action remake, so fans are bitterly disappointed to see this change. “Put Pleakley in the wig, cowards,” wrote one person on Bluesky.

“I get WHY Jumba and Pleakley have holographic disguises in this version, but I don’t know, I think it kind of ruins the joke in the original of people being so oblivious that these two are so obviously aliens,” wrote another critic.

There were also quibbles about Pleakley’s alien design in general. He looks charming in the animated movie, but that design doesn’t translate well to a CGI live-action movie. “Seeing Pleakley in the new Lilo & Stitch live-action trailer made me let out an actual shriek of horror,” said a Bluesky user, and 1.7 people agreed with them by liking the post. A definite thumbs down from fans there, then.

While most of the comments about Pleakley are being made in jest, there’s a serious undercurrent to the critiques, too. Some people are wondering: Did Disney cut the character’s cross-dressing because of the anti-DEI policies that are sweeping the nation? Has the anti-trans moral panic gone that far?

“It was definitely done in part bc it’s cheaper than CGI for the whole movie, but I gotta say it’s so obvious the drag element for Pleakley was cut because Disney execs are a bunch of spineless b**ches that consider an element of a 23-year-old children’s movie “too woke/political.” God**mn shame,” said a Bluesky user, while another wrote, “A Disney executive wrote a note to Chris Sanders that says, ‘Make Pleakley less trans.’” Others posted a screenshot of a famous X post from Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch that criticized Disney for pretending to care about LGBTQ+ fans but always mysteriously leaving LGBTQ+ characters on the cutting room floor.

All in all, it remains to be seen if the live-action Lilo & Stitch will actually be worth anyone’s time. At least Stitch looks cute?