Snoop Dogg Addresses Backlash Over ‘Lightyear’ LGBTQ+ Comments

Snoop Dogg is speaking out after facing backlash for his recent remarks about LGBTQ+ representation in children’s movies.

On Wednesday (Aug. 27), the 53-year-old rapper addressed the controversy in the comments section of a Hollywood Unlocked Instagram post, where media personality T.S. Madison had criticized him for his reaction to a same-sex couple depicted in the 2022 animated film Lightyear.

“I was just caught off guard and had no answer for my grandsons,” Snoop wrote. “All my gay friends [know] what’s up they been calling me with love .”

He added, “My bad for not knowing the answers for a 6 yr old … teach me how to learn I’m not perfect.”

Snoop’s comments came days after he appeared on the Aug. 20 episode of Dr. Sarah Fontenot’s It’s Giving podcast, where he recalled taking his grandson to see Lightyear. During the film, he discovered that one of the female characters was in a same-sex marriage and had children with her wife.

“Why my grandson in the middle of the movie like, ‘Papa Snoop, how she have a baby with a woman? She a woman,’” Snoop recounted. “I didn’t come here for this s-t, I just came to watch the goddamn movie.”

The “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper continued, “So it’s like, f—k me, I’m scared to go to the movies now. Like, y’all throwing me in the middle of s—t that I don’t have an answer for,” Snoop said. “It threw me for a loop. We have to show that at this age? Like, they’re going to ask questions. I don’t have the answer.”

His remarks sparked swift backlash online, with many accusing him of being homophobic. Among those who responded was Lightyear writer Lauren Gunderson, who addressed the controversy in a Threads post on Aug. 27.

“As we wrote early versions of what became LIGHTYEAR, a key character needed a partner, and it was so natural to write ‘she’ instead of ‘he,’” Gunderson wrote. “As small as that detail is in the film, I knew the representational effect it could have. Small line, big deal. I was elated that they kept it.”

The writer continued, “I had very little to do with the final script. But I was proud to see a happy queer couple (even for a few seconds) onscreen. I know they got a lot of s—t for this inclusion, but stuff like this matters because beautiful love like this exists.”

Lightyear features a brief scene in which Alisha, a central character, is revealed to be queer and in a committed relationship with another woman. The two share a kiss, a moment that led to the film being banned in several countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The scene also drew criticism from right-wing political figures in the United States, who accused Disney of promoting a “pro-LGBTQ+ agenda.”