It goes without saying that Disney has made plenty of changes across the company over the years. Now, however, they’ve made a major change to an iconic character that fans have become accustomed to at Disney World for the last 50 years.
This decision to cancel the character began when Disney started renovating one of their most iconic attractions.
The attraction, located at Disney World, is none other than the Country Bear Jamboree. It underwent renovations earlier this year.
At the time, however, this led to the absence of one of the attraction’s characters: Liver Lips McGrowl. Now the character has been confirmed to be canceled.
RIP Liver Lips McGrowl #CountryBears pic.twitter.com/YoG461wYRg
— Bill Ahern (@BillAhern212) July 17, 2024
Inside The Magic describes the changes to the character as follows:
“The decision to remove Liver Lips McGrowl was driven by concerns over the character’s name. The term ‘liver lips’ is considered derogatory and offensive, as it is associated with excessive alcohol consumption and the resulting liver damage. The phrase is deemed to be insensitive and outdated, prompting Disney’s decision to modify the character.”
As such, he’s been replaced outright with a new character that features a new name. Interestingly, he does resemble his predecessor aside from the new addition of a different hairstyle. Similarly, Disney gave the character a new first name as well: Romeo McGrowl.
Of course, while some fans will no doubt have critiques about the decision to change his name and appearance, others will be happy. Disney is eagerly trying to create a more diverse, inclusive, and respectful brand for itself, and that means changing names and characters to better reflect that. Even if it means changing characters that have been a certain way for decades.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for more Disney news as we have it. For now, it’ll be interesting to see how fans interpret the changes made to Liver Lips McGrowl. Or, perhaps, he should be referred to by his new name “Romeo McGrowl.”