- Hey, guys! It's Peyton
Elizabeth Lee--
- And Joshua Rush--
- (both) ...from Disney 
Channel's Andi Mack!
- And today, we are checking out
Generations React to Andi Mack.
- (FBE) So big thanks 
for being here to react back
to our Andi Mack episode.
We'd like to know if you've ever seen
any FBE shows before.
- Oh, yeah, for sure.
Um, the one with Billie Eilish
is one of my favorites.
- It's a classic, definitely.
And I grew up with 
Kids React and Teens React.
Those were always my favorite things
and I would watch those all the time.
- (Cyrus) Last night, 
when we were watching
Andi and Jonah--
- I know this scene
always gives me chills.
- (Sergio) ...this show!
Oh, my god. I remember this.
- (Tori) This is Andi Mack!
I love this show.
- (Buffy) Cyrus, do you like Andi?
- (Kristine) Oh, he was so scared.
- (Buffy) You like Jonah.
- (Sydney) Oh!
- (Buffy) You like Jonah.
- (Tida) Jonah's a boy, right?
He's gay!
- That's great.
I love seeing that.
Kids my age and kids Cyrus' age
and kids even her age
are having the realization
that they're gay,
so I think it's fantastic that kids
are being able to remove
that stigma for themselves.
- It's really cool to see kids 
who are watching the show
and who just accept it immediately,
because, again, like Josh said,
there is no stigma against--
- Naturally, there really isn't.
- It's because of what people tell you
and because of what you see on TV,
and what you see in real life.
It's really exciting
to just see these 
little small victories
that sort of give you a little insight
into what the world
might look like in the future.
- (Tida) He's gay!
- That's so cute.
- Me reading the scripts.
- (Tori) You would never see this
in a Disney Channel show
when I was watching Disney Channel.
- (Paulette) This 
scene gives me goosebumps.
These kids are really good.
- (Cyrus) I feel weird.
- (Mikaela) Aww.
- (Cyrus) Different.
- (Sergio) You're 
not different, Cyrus. Come on!
- (Buffy) You've always been weird.
- (Holgie) Weird is good.
- Weird is good.
- (Buffy) You'll be okay.
I promise.
- (Lucas) Oh, wowzers.
Those waterworks are starting to come.
I hate when people 
that are gay and lesbian,
they say that they're different
but they're not really different.
Is this a try not to cry challenge,
'cause if it was, I would have--
- I want to be this kid's best friend.
- Me and Sophia, the cast mate
who is actually in that scene,
she and I lived in
the same apartment building
at the time and we actually spent
almost the entire night before
preparing and getting ready
for that scene,
so it's really great 
to see that they all felt that.
- I think we were all really excited
just to be able to portray this.
He's not just saying, 
"He's gay," you know?
He's just saying he has 
these feelings for this other boy,
which I think is
a really authentic, real portrayal
of it, so that was very exciting,
and seeing that people
are receiving it in the way
we wanted.
It's really cool.
- (Kristine) Oh, god.
Is that Jonah? He's so cute.
- (laughing) Everyone's reaction.
- We know!
- (Cyrus) That's gefilte fish,
skip that, and I'm gay.
- (Sydney) I guess 
that was the right time!
- (Kristine) Okay.
He seized the moment.
- (Jonah) Okay, cool.
- Such a "Jonah" reaction, too.
- "Oh... okay, cool."
- "Dosh. Dosh."
- "Dosh."
- (FBE) There are some who feel 
that kids should not really be shown
things like this when they're young.
Why do you think that some adults
don't want kids to know
about people who may be gay?
- (Tida) I don't know.
I think kids should be seeing this.
It's perfectly fine!
- That's right!
- (Lucas) I feel like the people
that don't like gay people
and everything else,
it's probably because they
didn't learn when they were young.
Like, I'm glad my parents taught me
that everybody can live their life.
- Parents that have
wanted to shelter their kids
and sort of have their kids see
what they want them to see, you know,
but I think it's important,
like this kid said,
that kids are exposed 
to the real world and see
what life is really like,
especially in such, you know,
an innocent way.
Andi Mack is dealing with anything
that kids shouldn't see, you know?
It's all in a very, you know,
age appropriate way.
It's so exciting that Disney Channel
wanted to make a show like this
because there is not a single channel,
at least in my opinion,
that reaches as many kids
around the world as Disney Channel.
- (FBE) We want to know for you,
a kid in 2019, what do you think
when you see a character
talking about being gay
on a show for kids?
- (Sydney) The more 
we act it's a big deal,
then the more it's in real life,
you're like, "Oh, my gosh.
This is such a big thing,"
when it should be like,
"That's just how the person is."
- (Bradley) I think it's okay.
I really am proud of the writer--
- Terry!
- Terry!
- (Lucas) Everybody 
should just accept it
and move on in life
because it's nothing big.
It's not like the end 
of the world's happening
because he's gay.
- That kid is perhaps 
my favorite person.
- That kid is woke. Very woke.
- Did you say "woke"?
- I said "woke"!
- No, but these kids know what's up.
Come on! They're so well spoken.
- (FBE) Even if you
were in support of this being
in a children's program,
can you see any validity in
the concerns that some people have?
- (Paulette) Parents should exercise
their own individual controls,
but, to be honest, I don't know.
I find it incomprehensible
that some kid is gonna see it
and quote unquote "turn gay"
because they're watching this.
But don't try to prohibit or limit
other people from seeing it.
That's where I draw the line.
- Talking about people turning gay--
- That's a crazy thing
that we hear a lot about,
is like your show 
is gonna turn my kids gay.
- I even got a tweet
that someone's kid came out
to them after watching the show.
That kid was already gay.
- He was definitely gay 
before the episode.
This show is giving
this kid the confidence
to be proud of who they are.
- (FBE) The show deals 
with a lot of other topical issues,
all geared towards a younger audience,
so we have some more to show you now,
starting with a clip 
from the very first episode,
which is also kind of 
the initial premise of the show.
- It's you!
- Oh, no.
- It's you!
- Oh, no. It's baby me.
- Do you remember reading 
the pilot for the first time?
- (Tida) Whoa!
- (squealing)
- Look at you!
You're so tiny!
- (Tori) Aww, this show's so dramatic.
- Look at how little you were!
- Just a little bean.
- (Bex) I'm your mother.
- (Bradley) That was unexpected.
- Did you know I didn't read 
the whole pilot before I auditioned?
- Right! They had you--
- I didn't know.
I didn't know this scene,
that Bex was actually Andi's mom,
until the eighth time
I went in for the show.
They gave me the episodes 
of this scene to cold read
and I was just freaking out 
because, I mean,
we already knew 
that the show was special,
but then after this, I was just like,
I have to be a part of this
in any way possible.
- (Mikaela) Wow, what 
a premise for a Disney show!
- (Andi) You're my what?
- (Paulette) That's 
what I would have said.
"You're my what?
Are you kidding me?"
- (Andi) Mom!
- (Paulette) "Jesus, 
I'm telling mom on you.
Oh, wait."
- (Andi) You all 
have been lying to me--
- Spicy bean.
- (Luca) Ooh, girl.
Andi, you better talk to them!
- Yeah!
- (FBE) Do you think a kid show
talking about this
would have been allowed 
to be made or aired
specifically for a kids demographic,
maybe earlier when you
were growing up?
- (Holgie) No. No. No.
- Flat out.
- (Holgie) We weren't ready for it.
We weren't ready for a lot of things.
- (Kristine) They 
sorta kinda touched on it
on a very after 
school special kind of way,
like a very special episode.
At that time, I didn't think
that it would be in a kid's show.
I couldn't see it because
it hadn't really happened.
- There's this idea of
the very special episode
in television, and I think
it's even on TV tropes, too,
where it's like this is an episode
with a very special storyline
that has to be handled very gingerly,
and what I love to see
is people feeling like 
we've broken that mold
a little bit.
We have a character 
with a learning disability.
We have a character who's gay.
We have a character 
who has a parent in the military.
We have a character 
who has panic attacks.
We have--
- Gun safety.
- Gun safety.
We had a deaf character.
So we've done tons upon tons
of these episodes
that you might call
"very special episodes,"
but for us, they're just
another day at work.
- (FBE) So finally,
do you think that shows
made for children will, over time,
have more storylines
like you saw today,
and more diverse characters--
- I hope so.
- (FBE) --LGTBQ+
and even go further, or do 
you think that they should limit
what type of characters
are portrayed for kids?
- (Holgie) Well, I don't like
putting limits on anything.
- (Lucas) There's gonna be 
more storylines,
and if there's a limit,
I will do a protest and--
- I love him!
- (Lucas) ...sign the paperwork.
- I will sign the paper.
- (Lucas) ...Disney Channel Studio
and be like, "This is
bajillions of people 
that signed this paper.
You better bring back the storyline."
- I love him!
- The shows are just reflections 
of the real world, you know?
They're little glimpses into 
what the world might look like
and what it might feel like
if you weren't the person that you are.
- I would say 99% 
of probably the response
to our show has been 
just overwhelmingly positive,
so I was just really glad
to see that reflected in the video.
- Definitely. I think it's also cool
to see such a variety
of people, you know, from age
to gender to walks of life,
you know, and seeing how 
different people
sort of see it differently.
- (FBE) So first question,
what do you hope people take
from Andi Mack when they're watching?
- Hopefully, through our show,
we're, you know,
getting kids to connect
with these characters
and then, in turn, 
hopefully connect closer
to their family 
and with their friends.
- The group of kids out there
who are gonna see that
and be like, "Oh, hey, that's me,"
and it's those kids
who I really-- I care about
all the viewers of the show,
but that little group
is the ones that I hold
closest to my heart.
- (FBE) This next question comes 
from one of our Twitter followers,
@RamenBreena,
if you could write an episode
of Andi Mack, what 
would it revolve around?
- (both) Ooh.
- Recently, I went to China
with Adventures by Disney,
and it was really cool to sort of see
because I had never been there before,
but, you know, 
my dad's side of the family
is from China, so I feel like
an episode where Andi sort of
gets to tap into her Chinese heritage,
I feel that could be really cool.
- (FBE) While the show 
has been praised by many,
there are also those
who are critical of the show
and the storylines presented.
How do you and your cast mates
deal with that type of criticism?
- I clap back at them on Twitter.
- I don't really look 
at most of it, to be honest.
I don't really go through my comments.
I don't have a Twitter,
so, for me, it's just about focusing
on what I'm doing--
and I think seeing 
those negative comments
sort of reflects life, you know,
and how there is still that part
of our world that is sort 
of closed off to that,
and so I think, if anything,
that just gives me more motivation
to keep doing what 
we're doing and try to, you know,
change those people's minds
through our show
and through, hopefully,
things we'll do in the future.
- (FBE) Finally, we wanted 
to give you a moment to talk
not only to the viewers of FBE,
but everyone out there
who watches Andi Mack,
who may see this.
What has their feedback and response
meant to you and what
would you want to say to them?
- I remember seeing
the first petition,
something like six months ago,
for an FBE Andi Mack reaction video,
and so seeing,
when I saw that this video
came out, I was so excited
and I immediately tweeted about it.
I'm so glad that we have
this incredible, active,
almost ravenous fanbase out there.
- Thank you guys so much
for all of your positivity and love.
You know, it just fills my heart
with so much joy
to see people that love our show
and love what we're doing.
So thank you for making
what we do possible.
We get to do what we love every day
because of you guys.
Thank you so much, FBE,
for having us.
- (FBE) You can watch 
Andi Mack on Disney Channel
Fridays at 8:00/7:00 Central.
- (both) Bye!
