An Original ‘Aladdin’ Star Is Pretty Upset That He Wasn’t Asked Back For Disney’s Remake

It got lost in the “look everyone, Will Smith is a ripped blue genie” shuffle, but earlier this week, Alan Tudyk was announced as the voice of Iago, Jafar’s wise-acre parrot in the live-action Aladdin remake. The Firefly and Rogue One star (who’s been in every Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film since 2012’s Wreck-It Ralph) is a welcome addition to the cast… unless you’re Gilbert Gottfried. The foul-mouthed comedian lent his distinctive voice to the original Aladdin (and two direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves), and he’s none too pleased that he wasn’t asked back.

Since the Tudyk news was revealed, Gottfried (who once said about Aladdin, “I look at that one and say I know for a fact that one is a quality work”) has been retweeting angry fans about the casting. A sample tweet reads, “This movie can go f*ck itself! @RealGilbert is the ONLY voice for Iago!” Another added: “It makes NO sense once so ever. Disney even brought back James Earl Jones for The Lion King. But yet they couldn’t bring @RealGilbert back shame on you @DisneyStudios.” And my personal favorite: “F*ck you and that mouse.”

— Robin Quaglieri (@RobinQuaglieri) March 13, 2019

Anyone involved in this remake should be forced to watch @RealGilbert in the movie Life, Animated to see how his Lago character helped an autistic boy. Gilbert is Lago ! https://t.co/2E0P0Enx07

— Tim Maples (@Twm1958) March 13, 2019

NO @RealGilbert gotfried

NO ALADDIN

This is just insane!!

— MOLOTOVNIC (@molotovnic) March 12, 2019

@Disney no no no no you cant do aladdin without @RealGilbert so just as i was starting to like seeing aladdin now im st8 up…#NotMyIago pic.twitter.com/ogkKOedH1s

— Boston's Blur (@shinkenred87) March 14, 2019

Gottfried’s followers are also trying to get a hashtag trending (#NotMyIago), because it wouldn’t be a Disney movie without a boycott threat.

— Brent (@kazumarukuwabar) March 14, 2019