'It's 2017 for f*** sake': Ewan McGregor addresses Beauty and the Beast gay character controversy

‘Beauty and the Beast’ actor Ewan McGregor has addressed the so-called controversy concerning a “gay moment” in the upcoming Disney film involving Josh Gad’s character Le Fou.

The Scotsman addressed the furore in as plain a way as possible, telling US talk-show host Stephen Colbert: “It’s 2017, for f*** sake.” Quite.

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Director Bill Condon revealed in an interview with Attitude magazine last month that his film includes what he calls Disney’s first “exclusively gay moment”.

“LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” Condon said. “He’s confused about what he wants.

“It’s somebody who’s just realising that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”

Since the comment was made, it has been revealed that Russia is considering banning the film for being breaking laws against so-called “gay propaganda”.

Disney has also pulled the film from screening in Malaysia after the country’s censors said they would only allow the film to be shown if Disney cut the scene in question. The House of Mouse rightly refused.

On ‘The Late Show’ Colbert brought up the whole fuss, to which McGregor joked that “there’s a lot of gay sex in this film”, rather than the harmless reference to a character’s potential homosexuality that does exist in it.

Colbert then asks whether Le Fou is actually gay or not, wondering if there’s been some confusion over this. “No, I think he’s a gay character.”

Finding himself explaining why, McGregor realises there’s no need and says simply, with a laugh: “He’s a gay character… it’s 2017 for f*** sake,” to applause from the audience.

In ‘Beauty and the Beast’, McGregor plays human-turned-candlestick Lumière opposite Ian McKellan’s Cogsworth and Emma Thompson’s Mrs. Potts – his fellow animate inanimate objects.

Emma Watson is the film’s big human star. She stars alongside Dan Stevens as the Beast and Luke Evans as Gaston. The film is set for release on 17 March.