Photos from the movie “Lilo & Stitch” support child sex-trafficking conspiracy theories.
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This Disney movie is not nodding to Pizzagate
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- A scene in the Disney movie "Lilo & Stitch" was edited so that Lilo hides from her sister behind a pizza box, not in a dryer.
- The scene was initially edited for the movie’s release in the United Kingdom so it would qualify for a lower movie rating.
- On Disney+, this version of the movie is available to stream in order to prevent children from hiding in dryers.
In the original version of the 2002 Disney movie "Lilo & Stitch," there’s a scene in which Lilo hides from her older sister in the dryer during a fight.
But earlier this year, TikTok users drew attention to a change in the animated movie, BuzzFeed reported. Lilo is hiding behind a pizza box, not a dryer.
On Facebook, posts such as this one are casting this film edit in a nefarious light, using hashtags like #savethechildren and #Pizzagate, a baseless conspiracy theory that emerged in 2016 and claims that children were being abused and tortured at a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C.
"I’m wondering who could explain why a movie I watched as a kid that was made almost 20 YEARS AGO suddenly made its way into Disney+ and his this specific ‘modification,’" the post says. "I’m. Disgusted."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
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Disney has edited several movies and TV shows that are now streaming on Disney+ "to make it more palatable to a modern, family-friendly audience," according to Newsweek, including removing scenes with nudity from "Splash."
In Lilo & Stitch, the scene was edited to show Lilo hiding behind a pizza box "in order to prevent children hiding in dryers," the magazine reported.
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But the revised scene isn’t new. Lilo hid behind a pizza box in the version that was originally released in the United Kingdom in 2002 so that it could have a lower movie rating.
TikTok users may just be discovering the edit but it was under discussion as many as six years ago on Reddit.
Then, like now, there was no evidence that Disney was nodding to an unfounded theory about a child sex-trafficking ring by including a pizza box in an edited scene.
We rate this Facebook post False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, Aug. 6, 2020
YouTube, Lilo and Stitch: Lilo and Nani’s fight, uploaded March 3, 2018
BuzzFeed, There’s a scene in ‘Lilo and Stitch’ that’s causing people on TikTok to believe it’s the Mandela Effect, March 23, 2020
PolitiFact, How Pizzzagate went from fake news to a real problem for a D.C. business, Dec. 5, 2016
Newsweek, Disney Plus Censorship: All the movie and TV shows edited and censored on the streaming service, April 15, 2020
Independent, Disney+ users baffled by Lilo and Stitch alteration: ‘It’s annoying how they’ve changed scenes,’ April 3, 2020
Movie Censorship, Lilo & Stitch, visited Aug. 10, 2020
Yahoo! Disney+ has changed the dryer scene in ‘LIlo and Stitch’ and people are losing it, April 3, 2020
Reddit, TIL in the UK version of "Lilo and Stitch" …, Aug. 22, 2013
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This Disney movie is not nodding to Pizzagate
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