First Disney picture to feature gay character

The iconic Beauty & the Beast franchise is Disney’s first motion picture to include an openly homosexual character. Walt Disney casted American actor Josh Gad to play LeFou who is enamored with Gaston, the movie’s villain and Belle’s suitor.

Director Bill Condon told British gay magazine, Attitude, that he wanted to add a playful twist to the classic plot. ‘It’s a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie’, said Condon.

This shift is an epochal moment in Disney’s history. Unlike its rivals, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, the multi-billion dollar has never featured a gay figure before. Disney has been heavily criticized in the past for being too conservative and prejudiced.

Whether this decision to break with tradition is a commercial move or an attempt to try to reconnect with the LGBT-community is still unclear.

The remake will premiere on the 29th of March in all Belgian theaters.

Text: Morgan Decuyper