Josh Gad Says ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Didn’t Do Justice To Gay ‘LeFou’

Josh Gad reveals his regret over his 2017 portrayal of LeFou in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.

Ahead of its release in 2017, Disney and director Bill Condon had celebrated the film for featuring the studio’s first openly gay character in LeFou, the downtrodden sidekick of Gaston (played by Luke Evans).

However, upon its release and despite otherwise roaring praise, the film was criticised for its limited representation of the character’s sexuality, featuring a single “gay moment” where LeFou is spotted dancing with a man.

Now, in an interview with The Independent, Gad expresses regret that the film “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.” He continued, “It was never intended to be a moment that we should laud ourselves for, because frankly, I don’t think we did justice to what a real gay character in a Disney film should be.”

“That was not LeFou. If we’re going to pat ourselves on the back, then damn it we should have gone further with that. Everybody deserves an opportunity to see themselves onscreen, and I didn’t think we’ve done enough – and certainly haven’t done enough to do that.”

Gad was set to reunite with Evans in a planned Disney+ prequel series focusing on their characters

Development on the show was recently “delayed indefinitely” due to creative and scheduling issues.

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