Taron Egerton Says Kissing Men “No Less Appealing” Than Kissing Women

There's really no big difference between kissing men and kissing women, according to Taron Egerton, star of the upcoming Elton John biopic Rocketman.

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Egerton said everyone is "obsessed" with the gay plotline of Rocketman -- I mean, it's about a gay singer, but go off, I guess -- but that his heterosexuality didn't stop him from embracing the part "a hundred percent."

"For me, kissing a man onscreen is no less appealing than kissing a woman onscreen," he said. "I'm not in any way repulsed by the male form. It's an uncomfortable thing regardless of who you're with -- it makes no difference as to your sexual preference."

The heterosexual star will lip locks with also heterosexual star Richard Madden in Rocketman. Egerton has had to clarify his sexuality in the past because of what people saw as gaybaiting social media posts, like one 2018 IG that showed a picture of a friend with the caption, "Cutie. My boy" and a heart emoji.

Egerton went further and weighed in on the idea of casting straight people in gay roles, something his co-star Madden has weighed in on recently, as well. Turns out their views are pretty similar.

"I have spoken to gay people for whom it's not a problem, and I've spoken to gay people for whom it is a problem," Egerton said. "I completely understand. But for my part, I'm an actor, and I did not get into acting to just play people like me. You have to draw the line somewhere, and I don't want to live in a world where straight people play straight people and gay people play gay people."

Given the collective disappointment and anger the LGBTQ+ community still has from what Hollywood did to Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman has understandably garnered a lot of pre-release criticism concerning the film's queer content. Rumors circulated in March that film studio Paramount wanted to cut a gay sex scene from the final version of the film, which prompted director Dexter Fletcher to come out and say the whole thing was unsubstantiated rumor.

People will be able to find out whether the film is a tribute or a trainwreck when it comes out on May 31 in the U.S.

RELATED | Taron Egerton Hopes Rocketman Won't Get Straightwashed by the Studio