10 Celebs Who Were Fired By Disney — And The Reason Behind It
While Disney is famous for treating their stars right, they are also known for being strict. They do not bat an eye when it comes to firing them also. Here are ten stars who were fired by Disney and the reasons behind it.
1.Terrence Howard
In the first Iron Man movie, Terrence Howard played the role of Rhodes/War Machine, the good friend of Tony Stark. From the second Iron Man movie onward, Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle.
In an episode of Watch What Happens, Howard revealed that he was let go by Disney because of a pay dispute when a fan called in with a question about why he wasn't in Iron Man 2. Terrence answered the question by saying, "This is gonna get me in a lot of trouble. It turns out that the person I helped become Iron Man, when it was time to re-up for the second one, took the money that was gonna go to me and pushed me out."
2.Ryan Gosling
While promoting his movie Lars and the Real Girl in 2008, Ryan Gosling revealed in an interview with the Telegraph that he was fired by Disney. This happened when he was was 12, back when he was a Mouseketeer alongside Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
He claimed that the studio told him that he wasn't Disney material because he was constantly educating the other tween Mouseketeer about more, um, mature topics.
3.Jake Paul
YouTuber Jake Paul starred in the Disney+ show Bizaardvark from 2016 to 2018 but did not appear in the third season of the series. Jake explained his exit from Disney to the Hollywood Reporter as such:
"They basically called me and were like, ‘Yo, what’s going on, what’s going on?’ And I just explained the situation, and they were like, ‘OK. We want to expedite this process of weaning you off the show.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. But it’s going to look like you guys fired me.’ And they were like, ‘We can say that we mutually parted ways and blah, blah, blah.’ And that’s the reality of the story."
4.Megan Mullally
In 2004, Megan Mullally revealed on The Wayne Brady Show that she was hired to voice an unknown character in Finding Nemo.
She explained that the role ultimately didn't work out because she refused to assume the same high-pitched voice she used in Will and Grace for the role.
5.PewDiePie
PewDiePie / Via giphy.com
Disney's Maker Studios cancelled the contract with Swedish YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, following an antisemitic stunt. Maker Studios released the following statement to share their parting of ways:
“Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate. Maker Studios has made the decision to end our affiliation with him going forward.”
6.Roseanne Barr
Nineties sitcom star Roseanne Barr was fired by Disney+ after she made a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, former advisor to Barack Obama.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed, "It seemed completely insensitive, completely disrespectful. It was very clear. The decision, it was easy to make."
7.James Gunn
Director of Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad, James Gunn was fired by Disney in 2018, when his old offensive social media posts resurfaced. After dozens of celebrities expressed their support for Gunn and thanks to a fan-made petition with over 400,000 signatures, Gunn was reinstated as the writer-director of Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
8.Mitchel Musso
We all know Musso as Oliver from Hannah Montana. He was also the voice of Jeremy Johnson on Phineas and Ferb and then worked on Pair of Kings.
According to TMZ, he was forced to leave Pair of Kings following a DUI arrest.
9.Steve Whitmire
Steve Whitmire was the iconic voice behind "Kermit the Frog" for nearly 30 years. In 2017, Disney replaced Whitmire with Matt Vogel. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Whitmire revealed that he was let go of by Disney.
According to Whitmire, the two reasons stated for his removal were "unwanted notes during the short-lived Muppets reboot on ABC" and a "union disagreement."
10.Harlan Ellison
Famous sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison, known for Star Trek and The Man From U.N.C.L.E, was fired by Disney on his first day of work. The offense? It was for flippantly suggesting that the company should “do a Disney porn flick.”