Ewan McGregor pulled double duty during Monday’s appearance on The Late Show, promoting his return with Danny Boyle in T2: Trainspotting and showing his complete lack of knowledge about his role in Beauty And The Beast. It’s honestly some of the best promotion you could ask for because McGregor is entertaining as hell and doesn’t seem to care about what he says. He also admitted that he never watched the original animated film from Disney and missed out on even hearing “Be Our Guest” — all despite the song being nominated for an Oscar and getting a hilariously morbid parody on The Simpsons.
The real gem in this interview, though, comes when Colbert brings up the “gay moment” with Gaston’s faithful sidekick LeFou from the film. The moment is apparently as tame as could be, but the very mention of Josh Gad’s character being gay has caused quite a backlash against the film in several states and across the globe. Not only has Disney been forced to pull the film in certain nations, many people have decided to boycott the film and Disney for some reason. A theater in Alabama has already canceled showing the film, earning them a mention during McGregor’s response to the whole situation.
“There’s lots of gay of sex in it…there’s A LOT of gay sex in this cartoon. And I think if you live anywhere near Alabama, you should not go and see this film. What would Jesus think?”
He then follows it up with a straight, serious take on the entire thing:
“It’s just like…he’s a gay character. It’s 2017 for f*cks sake.”
The odd part about the entire controversy is how no one that has been offended by the film has seen it. They may have caught an early screening and gotten upset to see Josh Gad dancing with another man, but that’s doubtful. But just the idea that a character is gay in the film was enough for one woman to cancel her Disneyland family vacation and many others to cry foul against the movie.
McGregor’s take is the type of response you hope to hear when someone is promoting a film. No need for wordy corporate press releases when you can just send a Scotsman out to curse on national television and make fun of people.
(Via The Late Show)
