Josh Gad is opening up about the public response to his portrayal of LeFou in the live-action Beauty and the Beast film.
In the actor’s new memoir, In Gad We Trust: A Tell-Some, he writes about the public backlash he received after his character danced with a man during a musical number in the 2017 film.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Gad wrote he “never once” played LeFou as a gay character, and a “sweet and innocuous moment” of dance choreography was taken out of context.
“I for one certainly didn’t exactly feel like LeFou was who the queer community had been wistfully waiting for,” Gad wrote. “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.”
Gad said he had discussions with director Bill Condon, as well as screenwriters Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, about the specific nature of LeFou’s feelings for Gaston. Ultimately, Gad wrote, they decided that LeFou was simply 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.”
He also wrote that the team never discussed focusing 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.”
Through all of this, Gad wrote he would have loved to have played an explicitly gay version of LeFou, but 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. … It was both too little and not enough to be anything more than it was.”
In Gad We Trust: A Tell-Some is available now. In a Tuesday morning appearance on The View, Gad said he plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from his book to those affected by the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
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