Walt Disney Co.’s (ticker: DIS) “Beauty and the Beast” will feature an “exclusively gay moment” — one that already ignited a barrage of controversy.
It all started when director Bill Condon was interviewed by Attitude recently. Actor Josh Gad — known for giving voice to the lovable snowman Olaf in the 2013 Disney hit “Frozen” — plays LeFou, sidekick of the villainous Gaston (Luke Evans). LeFou is — “somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” the director says. “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings.”
At one point, LeFou is seen dancing with another male character. “It is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie,” Condon tells Attitude.
One movie theater in Alabama is choosing not to show the film, which is being released March 17. “If we cannot take our 11-year-old granddaughter and 8-year-old grandson to see a movie, we have no business watching it,” the theater’s new owners said on Facebook. “If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me, then we have no business showing it.”
A lawmaker from Russia wants his country to ban the film, which he called “a blatant, shameless propaganda of sin and perverted sexual relationships,” reports CNN.
Evangelist Franklin Graham spoke out against Disney in a Facebook post. “They’re trying to push the LGBT agenda into the hearts and minds of your children — watch out!” he wrote. “Disney has the right to make their cartoons, it’s a free country. But as Christians we also have the right not to support their company.”
The movie has also been criticized for not being as progressive as it could’ve been.
@justjustin42 I could see that! Though to me it’s all of a piece with the way they boasted about this lip-service progressiveness overall
— Jackson McHenry (@McHenryJD)
At a news conference Sunday, Condon said the film is about “what has this story always been about for 300 years. It’s about looking closer, going deeper, accepting people for who they really are,” according to People. “And in a very Disney way, we are including everybody. I think this is for everybody, and on the screen we’ll see everybody. And that was important to me.”
Gad says he is “very proud” of his version of LeFou. “Bill Condon did an amazing job of giving us an opportunity to create a version of LeFou that isn’t like the original, that expands on what the original did, but that makes him more human and that makes him a wonderfully complex character to some extent,” Gad said, according to People.
The movie, featuring Emma Watson as heroine Belle and Dan Stevens as the titular Beast, is a remake of Disney’s popular 1991 animated film, which made nearly $425 million worldwide. It won two Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture. The live-action version is expected to make $100 million its opening weekend, with some putting it at possibly $120 million, reports Deadline. Its budget was $160 million.
The film is one of several possible blockbusters planned this year by Disney, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Cars 3” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”
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Here’s the Story Behind Walt Disney Co.’s ‘Gay Moment’ Controversy originally appeared on usnews.com
