Alabama Theater Cancels 'Beauty and the Beast' Screening Due to Gay Character
An Alabama drive-in movie theater is canceling screenings of "Beauty and Beast" to protest the inclusion of a gay character.
Director Bill Condon recently confirmed that LeFou (Josh Gad) will be revealed as gay in the live-action version of the beloved animated musical. And now the owners of the Henagar Drive-In theater are alerting customers on its Facebook page that planned screenings have been canceled.
"When companies continually force their views on us we need to take a stand," they wrote in the post. "If we can not take our 11-year-old granddaughter and 8-year-old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it. If I can't sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it. I know there will be some that do not agree with this decision. That's fine ... We will continue to show family oriented films so you can feel free to come watch wholesome movies without worrying about sex, nudity, homosexuality and foul language."
LeFou is sidekick to villain Gaston (Luke Evans), and sings to and flirts with his crush. In a final scene, he's shown dancing with a man.
Gad himself tweeted his pride in the choice to be open about LeFou's orientation:
Beyond proud of this https://t.co/5wG1KfKqVZ
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 1, 2017
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