The conspiracy recently popped up on the Bravo original series Southern Charm, when on a guy’s trip to Linville, North Carolina, Craig Conover asks a question that’s been on his mind: Are pandas real?

In “Turning Red,” the Pixar-produced film airing on Disney+, a 13-year-old girl named Mei who lives in Toronto turns into a red panda whenever she feels a strong emotion, ranging from anger over her ...