Beauty and the Beast: Character Crisis

Disney’s live-action remake of the animation classic Beauty and the Beast, which hit theaters three weeks ago, is under fire for a scene widely seen referring to homosexuality. As a result of the controversial gay moment in the movie, it has been banned in some countries. In Kuwait, censors pulled the movie from all theaters, Russia has banned kids younger than 16 from seeing it and in a rural corner of Alabama a drive-in theater has refused to screen the film. Malaysian censors approached Disney for permission to cut out the scene but were turned down and Malaysia has since yanked the movie from theaters.

And though the film was not banned here in Egypt, many parents decided to boycott it.

After a weekend screening, Egypt Today talked to theatergoers to get their reactions. “Disney is trying to push the LGBT agenda into the hearts and minds of our children, but we will not accept that, I can’t let my daughter watch this movie,” one angry parent told Egypt Today.

“Why would Disney portray LeFou as a gay character? It is very inappropriate, I wish I hadn’t seen it with my children,” another complained.

Others said they hadn’t even noticed there was a gay scene and one father described the brouhaha over the film as “pathetic.”

His 12-year-old felt a bit more strongly about the movie: “I just want to know why sex and politics have to be interjected into everything!”

Another 10-year-old boy had this to say: “I don’t care if there is a gay scene or a sex scene in the movie as long as I can differentiate if it is appropriate or not. Spiderman kissed his girlfriend and this is not acceptable, but he is still my favorite superhero.”

The box-office hit is currently being screened across cinemas nationwide.