Beauty and the Beast a ‘gay extravaganza’?
The veteran actor – who plays Cogsworth in the Disney reboot – made the remarks as he joined cast members and director Bill Condon on stage at the movie’s New York premiere.
He jokingly pointed out that it marked ‘another gay extravaganza’ for him and Condon – after previously working with him on the movie Gods and Monsters, in which he played gay filmmaker James Whale.
Ahead of the screening, McKellen also addressed the controversy surrounding the scene, which focuses on Gaston’s sidekick Le Fou, played by Josh Gad.
The moment in question has led to a cinema in Alabama refusing to show the film and a ban on younger viewers seeing it in Russia – not to mention it falling foul of Malaysian censors.
However McKellen has hit back at the various bans and censorship snips, saying: ‘For people to complain about it and say they don’t want children to see it is absolute rubbish.
‘I know people who don’t like gay people make a fuss, it’s a very small moment in the movie and nobody should get too excited.’
His comments come after co-star Ewan McGregor – who plays Lumiere – told The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert that people should get over it because ‘it’s 2017 for f**k’s sake’.
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