--- title: Beauty and the Beast Director" 'Gay Moment' Was 'Overblown' description: He asked, “Why is it a big deal?” canonical: https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-04T21:40:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:35.205Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Beauty and the Beast' Director Says 'Exclusively Gay Moment' Was 'Overblown' og:description: He asked, “Why is it a big deal?” og:url: https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00eb7cf867ab4199/6988bd034dd215162befe03b/beautyandthebeast5890f6e6d1dd0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: null og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Beauty and the Beast' Director Says 'Exclusively Gay Moment' Was 'Overblown' twitter:description: He asked, “Why is it a big deal?” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00eb7cf867ab4199/6988bd034dd215162befe03b/beautyandthebeast5890f6e6d1dd0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Beauty and the Beast_ Director Says 'Exclusively Gay Moment' Was 'Overblown' > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: A Russian Lawmaker Wants to Ban Beauty and the Beast [Watch (HLS stream): A Russian Lawmaker Wants to Ban Beauty and the Beast](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Zpinn9ie.m3u8) (0:48)  _Published 2017-03-06. A Russian lawmaker has labeled the movie as 'Gay Propaganda'._ by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Mar 4, 2017 9:40 PM UTC  A scene from Beauty and the Beast. A scene from Beauty and the Beast.Laurie Sparham—Disney by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Mar 4, 2017 9:40 PM UTC According to Bill Condon, too much has been made over _Beauty and the Beast_‘s “[exclusively gay moment](http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/03/beauty-beast-lefou-gay-character-dad/).” The director first announced Josh Gad’s LeFou would come out of the closet in [a recent issue of _Attitude_ magazine](http://attitude.co.uk/world-exclusive-beauty-and-the-beast-set-to-make-disney-history-with-gay-character/), giving Disney its first openly gay character. At the time, he referred to it as “an exclusively gay moment,” but has since downplayed his past remarks during an interview with [_ScreenCrush_](http://screencrush.com/beauty-and-the-beast-bill-condon-gay-moment-overblown/). “Oh God. Can I just tell you? It’s all been overblown. Because it’s just this, it’s part of just what we had fun with,” he said. “You saw the movie, yeah? You know what I mean. I feel like the kind of thing has been, I wish it were – I love the way it plays pure when people don’t know and it comes as a nice surprise.” Wishing “to not make a big deal of it,” he asked, “Why is it a big deal?” **Spoiler warning for** **_Beauty and the Beast_**: The scenes in question involve LeFou subtley flirting with Luke Evans’ Gaston, and the end shows him dancing with another male character. “He’s confused about what he wants,” Condon explained to _Attitude_, which revealed the news as a “world premiere” and “watershed moment” in the original article. “It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.” Since news broke, the Alabama-based theater Henagar Drive-In [canceled its screenings](http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/03/theater-beauty-and-the-beast-gay-character/) of _Beauty and the Beast_ over LeFou. “If we cannot take our 11 year old grand daughter and 8-year-old grandson to see a movie, we have no business watching it,” the new owners wrote in a message on Facebook. “If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me, then we have no business showing it.” [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39168153) further reports the film may not screen in Russia, given the country’s law that bans what Russian officials deem “gay propaganda” to minors. Gad remarked to [_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2017/03/03/josh-gad-lefou-beauty-and-the-beast/98679284/) on the film’s premiere, “There was nothing in the script that said ‘LeFou is gay.’” Condon, too, echoed his comments to _ScreenCrush_: “To me, I have to say my heart sinks a little. I like the idea of it coming as this surprise, and I hope people don’t know where it’s coming.” _Beauty and the Beast_, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, hits theaters on March 17\. [Read EW’s full review here](http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/03/beauty-and-the-beast-ew-review/). [_This article_ ](http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/04/beauty-and-the-beast-gay-lefou-overblown/)_originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/"},"headline":"Beauty and the Beast Director Says 'Exclusively Gay Moment' Was 'Overblown'","datePublished":"2017-03-04T21:40:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:35.205Z","description":"He asked, “Why is it a big deal?”","url":"https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/","keywords":["movies","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00eb7cf867ab4199/6988bd034dd215162befe03b/beautyandthebeast5890f6e6d1dd0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00eb7cf867ab4199/6988bd034dd215162befe03b/beautyandthebeast5890f6e6d1dd0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"null","caption":"null","creditText":"Laurie Sparham—Disney","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/","name":"Beauty and the Beast Director Says 'Exclusively Gay Moment' Was 'Overblown'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Russian Lawmaker Wants to Ban Beauty and the Beast","description":"A Russian lawmaker has labeled the movie as 'Gay Propaganda'.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Zpinn9ie/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-06T15:41:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Zpinn9ie.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4691246/beauty-and-the-beast-director-says-gay-moment-overblown/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```