The internet is in full meltdown mode over… Pleakley’s wardrobe choices. Yes, that one-eyed alien icon who famously slayed in heels and wigs back in 2002 is now serving… less in the live-action Lilo & Stitch. And fans are not having it.
So, what’s the tea? In the OG animated movie, Pleakley went full-on fabulous—think undercover Barbie at a Hawaiian luau. Wigs, dresses, gender-fluid fabulousness, the whole nine yards. But in the shiny new live-action version, our alien fashionista (played by Billy Magnussen) is rocking a more traditionally masculine look. And fans are like, “Sir. What is this?”
Enter director Dean Fleischer Camp, a.k.a. the man in the crosshairs of the Great Pleakley Drag Debate of 2025. Dean took to TikTok to address the Pleakley Panic, reading fan comments aloud like it was a dramatic reading of the Constitution.
“I’ve had people message me, ‘Why is Pleakley not wearing a dress?’” Dean said, clearly feeling the digital side-eye of a thousand millennials and Gen Z-ers.
Then, in a tone that screamed “I’m just a man doing my best,” he confessed:
“I tried… I tried.”
That’s right, he TRIED, y’all. This isn’t a man who forgot to pack the wigs—he fought the good fight. And just to prove he wasn’t bluffing, he whipped out some receipts in the form of concept art that showed Pleakley in a fabulous red wig and classic blue dress, a look straight out of the animated movie’s greatest hits.
Fans: “Why isn’t Pleakley in a dress?”
Dean: “Look! I gave y’all wig realness on paper!”
Studio execs: 👀💼💰
So, was it the studio? Was it budget cuts? Was it intergalactic fashion police? We may never know. But one thing’s for sure: Pleakley’s drag era almost made a comeback.
The new Lilo & Stitch is in theaters now, but the discourse is still hotter than Stitch’s laser gun.
@marceltheshellwshoeson #disney #liloandstitch #animation ♬ original sound – Marcel the Shell