Russell T Davies Says Disney Plus Makes Him “Worry” About The Future Of Gay Entertainment
‘Queer As Folk’ creator Russell T Davies is concerned about what will happen to gay TV shows and films as the popularity of family-oriented streaming service Disney+ rises.
As ‘Metro’ reports, Disney+ has reached incredible success since it launched in November last year and Russell has been worried about how they buy companies and services.
Using the example of TV series ‘Love, Victor’, about a young man struggling with his sexuality, he discussed it being moved from the service over to another US streaming platform, Hulu. The TV writer said: “Can I just say my one negative worry is the rise of Disney actually.
“I love a Disney show, I love a Disney film, I love these things, but that is a giant. Disney+ is barely a year and it is vast already.” He continued: “It’s already started charging for your live action Mulan, so you can see the money rollercoasting towards it, and my great worry with huge monoliths like that is it’s family orientated, it’s family friendly.”
Russell thinks that what happened to Love, Victor is “a small sign” of what’s to come. “Disney is out to buy all of these companies and will keep buying them, and then, as a gay man, I’m sitting there going ‘Well where is my content?’” he added. “When Disney+ launched they had 3,931 hours of entertainment, it took 23 weeks to watch, I could watch the gay content in half an hour and that’s really important to me and really scares me.”
On the other hand, Russell has been impressed by the “intelligence” of shows nowadays – such as ‘When They See Us’ and ‘This Is America’.
Russell also wondered whether shows would be the way they are if it wasn’t for the freedom of Netflix, as networks might not take on the projects. “I’m talking streamers, I’m also talking HBO and BBC stuff, I May Destroy You, which I’m singling out as the greatest piece of writing I’ve seen in my life, never mind this year, ever, I think it’s truly, truly phenomenal,” he said. “From my point of view, I’m looking for gay material, popcorn stuff like Stranger Things, what a great lesbian character in the last series, it’s very, very exciting.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
Disney’s New Animated Series ‘The Owl House’ Stars An Out Bisexual Girl
New Disney Documentary ‘Howard’ Celebrates Queer Genius Behind Some Of Its Biggest Musical Hits
Watch The Trailer For ‘Love, Simon’ Spin-Off Series ‘Love, Victor’
Love, Simon Director Says Gay Execs Wouldn’t Let Him Cast Gay Actors
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