‘Beauty And The Beast’ actor Ewan McGregor has shot down the controversy surrounding the upcoming film’s so-called “gay moment”.
In the lead-up to the remake’s release, there has been much discussion of what has been billed as Disney’s first ever “exclusively gay moment”, though sadly not all of the talk has been positive.
In fact, the moment has led to Russia slapping an adult rating on ‘Beauty And The Beast’, while it has been temporarily banned in Malaysia.
Discussing the matter on ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’, Ewan joked: “There’s a lot of gay sex [in the film]... and if you live anywhere near Alabama, you should not go and see this film. What would Jesus think?”
When the host pointed out that the “gay moment” is merely LeFou dancing with a man in a dress at the end of the film, Ewan insisted: “No, I think he’s a gay character. It’s 2017. For fuck’s sake.”
Luke Evans - who plays Gaston, potentially the object of LeFou’s desire - was less decisive during an interview with Digital Spy, arguing: “I don’t know whether it’s that LeFou’s in love with Gaston. I don’t know if LeFou knows what love is. There’s a slight infatuation.”
First discussing the “gay moment” in an interview with LGBT magazine Attitude, director Bill Condon said: “Josh [Gad, who plays LeFou] makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”
However, he later admitted he thought the media had “overblown” his comments.
‘Beauty And The Beast’ arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 17 March.
Watch Ewan’s interview in full below: