Josh Gad says he 'never once' played his “Beauty and the Beast” character as gay: 'If I were gay, I'm sure I'd be pissed'

Josh Gad is ready to give his side of the story.

In his new memoir, In Gad We Trust, the Frozen actor opens up about the challenging period following the release of the 2017 Beauty and the Beast reboot. A brief shot of Gad's character LeFou dancing with another man prompted an intense public backlash, but Gad claims he "never once" played the faithful servant to the arrogant Gaston (Luke Evans) as gay, and that the "sweet and innocuous moment" was taken wildly out of context.

"I for one certainly didn't exactly feel like LeFou was who the queer community had been wistfully waiting for," Gad writes. "I can't quite imagine a Pride celebration in honor of the 'cinematic watershed moment' involving a quasi-villainous Disney sidekick dancing with a man for half a second. I mean, if I were gay, I'm sure I'd be pissed."

But it wasn't the dancing scene alone that turned an inoffensive legacy IP rehash into a powder keg of controversy. Off-the-cuff comments from key member of the Beauty and the Beast creative team helped plant the idea that the film intentionally set out to make LGBTQ history.

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Gad says that prior to production commencing on Beauty and the Beast that he, director Bill Condon, and screenwriters Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos had a "casual (but ultimately seismic) conversation... about the specific nature of LeFou’s devotion to Gaston. In the course of our discussions, we tried to distinguish whether or not LeFou loved Gaston or was in love with Gaston."

They "ultimately landed on the side of LeFou was truly in awe of Gaston, and that was not driven by any sexual desire whatsoever but rather a deep-seated love, appreciation, and belief in this person he had served alongside in battle for many years." To be as clear as possible, Gad reiterates that the Beauty and the Beast creative team "never once discussed" putting the focus on "LeFou's sexuality, which frankly was not a thing to really explore in a random comedic character in the film... or so I thought."

But the focus did shift onto LeFou's sexuality, for two reasons. First, it was an idea that Condon and the choreography team had for LeFou — "a brief, tiny moment dancing with another male celebrant." Gad approved of the "cheeky" addition to the film, writing, "because I was a side character, I didn’t want to suddenly throw the weight of sexuality on this character that in no way was driving the film, but the moment (as described to me) seemed harmless enough - a fun blink-and-you’ll-miss-it little beat."

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Second, Condon gave an interview to Attitude in March 2017 in which he said the following: "LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He's confused about what he wants... and Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that's what has its payoff at the end, which I don't want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."

Gad felt that "the quote in and of itself was delightful, beautiful, and perfect... but for those three fateful words: 'EXCLUSIVELY GAY MOMENT.'"

Related: The Evolution of Beauty and the Beast

The actor makes it clear throughout his discussion of the Beauty and the Beast debacle that he would have been "delighted" to play a gay LeFou. The fact simply was that "never once was the moment in this film described to me as something that we were going to hang a lantern on and pat ourselves on the back for. In fact, if it had, I never would have agreed to the seemingly sweet and innocuous moment. It was both too little and not enough to be anything more than it was."

After Condon's remarks were published, Beauty and the Beast wasn't just seen as a film featuring an ambiguous moment of queer affirmation, but as an explicit political statement. "Had the audience defined it as a sweet exclusively gay moment," Gad writes, "I would have been delighted! But the second we pointed it out and seemingly congratulated ourselves, we had invited hell and fury."

Beauty and the Beast prompted boycotts across the United States and was banned in several countries abroad. Gad says that Condon, who is gay, "felt awful" about his remarks, and "felt put on the spot... to share his pride for some form of representation in the film" during the interview. But the damage had been done, and "nobody wanted to discuss anything" but the "exclusively gay moment." The rest of the cast was even looped into an endless commentary cycle as well.

Related: An oral history of the animated Beauty and the Beast

Gad remarked in interviews at the time that "too much has probably been made of this entire thing," and in 2022 reflected that, "We didn’t go far enough to warrant accolades... We didn’t go far enough to say, 'Look how brave we are.' My regret in what happened is that it became 'Disney's first explicitly gay moment' and it was never intended to be that."

The most effective counter to the controversy proved to be time, as once enough people actually saw the film, Gad writes in his memoir that, "Everyone looked at each other and said: 'Wait, that’s it? That’s what all the fuss was about?'"

However inflamed the controversy got, it didn't make a dent in Beauty and the Beast's box office. The film grossed upwards of $1.2 billion on a roughly $300 million budget. It even picked up a couple Academy Award nominations (Best Costume Design and Best Production Design), and remains the second-highest grossing film of all of Disney's live-action remakes.

In Gad We Trust is available now.

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