There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding Disney’s first ever “gay moment” in Beauty & The Beast. So much so that the live-action remake has been pulled from some theatres.
Spoiler: Director Bill Condon described the scene in which LeFou (Josh Gad) dances with another man as being an "exclusively gay moment.”
However, if you ask Luke Evans who plays the ever obnoxious Gaston, he didn’t think LeFou was gay.
“A lot of thought was put into the character of LeFou and his connection to Gaston. There’s a lot of authenticity there, they’re like best buddies, they’ve been in each other’s lives for a very long time,” he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
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“I remember when I was a young kid and I always looked up to my older friends and thought, ‘Ah. One day I want to be like them. I want to play rugby like them. Everybody thinks they’re the best, I want to be that person.’ I think LeFou looks up to Gaston in that way — as a hero. I certainly don’t think there was anything more outside that relationship. They’re just good friends.”
Had Condon not come forward and labeled LeFou as being the “first-ever” gay Disney character, he’d have a great point.
“LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” Condon said in a previous interview. “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realising that he has these feelings.”
Despite Condon’s confirmation, Evans’ interpretation of Gaston and LeFou’s relationship does offer some food for thought. On screen, male friendship is often shielded under a veil machismo and misogyny. The fact that platonic male relationships even have a name separate from friendship — a bromance if you will — is telling.