Ewan McGregor Responds To The 'BATB' Controversy

Ewan McGregor wants you to know that he's not here for the Beauty and the Beast backlash. The Disney classic's live-action remake starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, and, of course, McGregor recently came under fire for featuring homosexuality in the film, which will hit U.S. theaters on March 17. Naturally, McGregor responded to the Beauty and the Beast controversy, and his reaction was very simple and to the point. The Scottish actor stopped by The Late Show on Monday night to discuss his new film, T2 Trainspotting, and his role as Lumière in Beauty and the Beast. When host Stephen Colbert mentioned the controversy surrounding the remake, McGregor joked that "there's a lot of gay sex in this film," and went on to poke fun at the Alabama theater that pulled the plug on screening the movie.

“I think if you live anywhere near Alabama, you should not go and see this film,” he said. “What would Jesus think?” He then provided a quick and to-the-point response that was a little more serious. “It’s just like, he’s a gay character,” he said. “It’s 2017, for f*ck’s sake.”

Since there really wasn't much to say about the issue after that, the actor basically left it at that, following some cheers from the audience.

During an interview with Attitude magazine earlier this month, the film's director Bill Condon, revealed a gay subplot involving Josh Gad's character, LeFou, and Luke Evans' Gaston. The director stated that LeFou will struggle with his feelings for Gaston, and will be involved in "a nice, exclusively gay moment" towards the end of the movie. “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” Condon said. “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it.”

Following the interview, a staff member at Alabama's Henagar Drive-In Theatre wrote in a Facebook post that the theater has decided not to screen the film, writing, "If we can not take our 11 year old grand daughter and 8 year old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it."

With that decision came tons of people who are now divided over the film's inclusion of a gay character — except Ewan McGregor who, as seen above, most likely just wants everyone to shut up about it. As Emma Watson recently explained, LeFou's sexuality is a very subtle subplot. Most people likely wouldn't have known about it had Condon not said anything. McGregor's brief response when discussing the matter with Colbert proved that there's not much left to be said about the topic, and his decision to make light of the issue proves that there really isn't an issue with having a gay character in a family film. After all, it is 2017.