Josh Gad Has A Lot To Say About That ‘Gay Moment’ In ‘Beauty And The Beast’

News of the subplot led to the 2017 movie being banned in several countries and boycotts in the U.S.

Eight years after the release of Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast,” actor Josh Gad is reflecting on the controversy surrounding the film’s so-called “exclusively gay moment.”

In his memoir “In Gad We Trust,” Gad brushes off the implication that the 2017 film was intended to feature Disney’s “first-ever gay character” despite a brief scene in which his character, LeFou, was seen dancing with another man.

“I for one certainly didn’t exactly feel like LeFou was who the queer community had been wistfully waiting for,” the actor wrote, as seen in an excerpt of the book published by Entertainment Weekly. “I can’t quite imagine a Pride celebration in honor of the ‘cinematic watershed moment’ involving a quasi-villainous Disney sidekick dancing with a man for half a second. I mean, if I were gay, I’m sure I’d be pissed.”

Gad also notes that he “never once discussed” LeFou’s sexuality with the movie’s creative team, and described the much-buzzed-about dancing scene as “harmless” and “a fun blink-and-you’ll-miss-it little beat.”

“It was both too little and not enough to be anything more than it was,” he wrote.