John Kani vanishes from The Lion King photo and Disney's not saying why

When the creators of the 2019 remake of The Lion King posted a picture of the cast to hype up fans ahead of the film's release, the last thing they expected was to anger SA fans over the exclusion of veteran actor John Kani.

The photo was shared by the film's official twitter page on Monday, and it featured the likes of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver and Beyoncé. 

But far from creating a buzz, the photo drew widespread questions about the exclusion of John, and veteran US actor James Earl Jones, who will voice Mufasa in the film.

John, who has received accolades around the world for his work and starred in several Hollywood films, will voice Rafiki in the film that opens next week in cinemas.

While US Twitter was zoning in on James' exclusion, local fans were demanding to know where John was.

Disney has yet to explain the actors' exclusion, and social media has remained abuzz, with John topping the local trends list on Monday evening.

And fans were angry! 

Opinions went from "America never loved us", to superimposing John's face on all the cast members in the photo.