Josh Gad Wishes His Beauty & The Beast Character Hadn’t Been Outed, But Knows It’s Important

A couple of days ago, it was revealed by Beauty & The Beast director Bill Condon that Gaston’s acolyte, LeFou, would have a ‘nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.’ That set off a lot of interest, with many praising Disney, while a few, including an Alabama drive-in that’s refusing to screen the movie, have decried it.

However, it turns out that Josh Gad, plays LeFou, didn’t know Condon was going to talk about the moment before the film was released. When asked about it by USA Today, he said, “I haven’t seen anything (about that), tell me more.”

He added, “I hope that it’s a surprise to audiences to some extent, although I don’t think it is anymore…. I’m honored to have that moment as part of my character’s arc. What was most important to me was taking a character that is wonderful and so iconic, but is defined by cartoon conceits in the (original) movie… and expanding on that, giving him dimension, making him human.”

He spoke more at the film’s premiere, with Variety reporting him saying, “As subtle as it is, I do think it’s going to be effective and I do think it’s important.”

Condon also expanded on his thoughts about making LeFou gay in the movie, saying, “It was something we developed as a part of a lot of things about LeFou. I’m excited for the moment that he has. I don’t want to give too much away because I think it’s part of a whole celebration of love, but Disney’s been great about it. That’s the thing; the whole ethic of that company is inclusion.”