"Lilo & Stitch" Pleakley Controversy

Overview

Lilo & Stitch Pleakley Controversy refers to an internet controversy surrounding the 2025 live-action remake of the 2002 Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch, which follows the story of a Hawaiian girl (played by actress Maia Kealoha) who befriends Stitch, a mischievous alien engineered for destruction. The official trailer for the movie dropped in mid-March 2025, prompting fan reactions and memes. Many internet users took note of the aliens Pleakley and Jumba, who are portrayed in the animated movie in alien form wearing human clothes. The trailer for the film revealed that the live-action version of the pair would use a cloaking device to appear human. Moreover, Pleakley would not cross-dress as a woman the way he did in the animated film.

Background

Disney's live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch is scheduled for release on May 23rd, 2025, directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and starring Maia Kealoha as Lilo and Chris Sanders as the voice of Stitch. The cast also includes Sydney Agudong as Nani (Lilo's older sister), Zach Galifianakis as Dr. Jumba Jookiba, Billy Magnussen as Agent Pleakley and Courtney B. Vance as Cobra Bubbles.

The official trailer for the film was released on March 12th, 2025, on the official Disney YouTube^[1] channel, where it gathered over 5.9 million views in a day. Agent Pleakley and Dr Jumba appear at the 1:55 timestamp.

On March 12th, 2025, the Twitter^[2] account @DiscussingFilm reposted the trailer on March 12th, gathering over 35 million views and 200,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

Several internet users reacted to the trailer for _Lilo & Stitch, with some fans taking offense to the character Pleakley not being depicted as a cross-dressing alien, but rather as a human man played by actor Billy Magnussen.

For instance, on March 12th, 2025, X^[3] user @TomZohar posted a side-by-side of the two Pleakleys, gathering over 320,000 likes on a post that read, "Look what they’ve done to our diva."

Also on March 12th, Twitter / X^[4] user @Angel_Valderie wrote, "Erasing Pleakley's drag and substituting it for human suits is bad because Disney wants to appease transphobes. But it's also bad because it completely misses the joke! I get it's probably a budget thing, but the whole point is that Jumba and Pleakley's disguises are terrible!" The post gathered over 77,000 likes in a day.

On March 13th, Redditor^[5] /u/Bunny-_-Harvestman posted to /r/ShittyMovieDetails, writing, "In the live action remake of Lilo and Stitch, the alien character Pleakley disguised himself as a man instead of a woman like in the animated film. This is a reference to Disney removing a Transgender character from their show," and gathering over 23,000 upvotes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References