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Ridley Scott denies Denzel Washington had a same-sex kiss in Gladiator II
The director is responding to some controversial tea the actor spilled about filming the highly-anticipated sequel.
What is the truth??
Just a week ago we were all buzzing from the revelation that Denzel Washington had a same-sex kiss in the upcoming film Gladiator II, but it had been cut. Now, the film's director and Washington himself are denying it.
In an interview with Gayety last week, Washington, who plays the villain character Macrinus in the upcoming sequel, said, "I kissed a man in the film, but they took it out, they cut it. I think they got chicken."
"Yeah, I kissed the guy full on the lips and I guess they weren't ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It's Gladiator. The Kiss of Death."
Now, Washington has backtracked some.
"It really is much ado about nothing," Washington said to Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of the movie. "They're making more of it than it was. I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck, and I killed him."
Furthermore, the film's director, Ridley Scott, has fully denied that the kiss ever happened.
"No, that's bullsh*t," Scott said when asked if the kiss was filmed and then cut from the movie. "They never did. They acted the moment – it didn't happen."
Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as Lucius the son of Maximus, as well as Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, and Fred Hechinger.
Whatever the truth is, Gladiator II comes out in theaters November 22.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
