When Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon revealed earlier this week that the live action re-make of the 1991 animation will feature Disney's first ever gay character, the news was mainly greeted as a step forward for a studio that hasn't always been quick to embrace wider representation on screen.
Speaking to Attitude magazine, the director revealed that Josh Gad's character Le Fou, the sidekick to the villainous Gaston, will have what Conlon describes as 'a[n] exclusively gay moment,' towards the end of the film.
'It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it,' he told the magazine. 'And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.'
Predictably, though, not everyone is happy about this Disney first, and one Christian-owned drive in cinema in Alabama has decided to pre-emptively ban the movie, ahead of its release later this month.
Writing on their Facebook page, the owners of the Henagar Drive In said: 'It is with great sorrow that I have to tell our customers that we will not be showing Beauty and the Beast at the Henagar Drive-In when it comes out. When companies continually force their views on us we need to take a stand.'
'We all make choices and I am making mine. For those that do not know Beauty and the Beast is “premiering” their first homosexual character. The producer also says at the end of the movie “there will be a surprise for same-sex couples”.'
'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. If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it.'
Yes, people are taking issue with the vaguest hint of a same-sex relationship, yet are totally unphased by a girl falling in love with a 'beast' who initially entraps her in an enchanted castle.
The Russian government is also under pressure to ban or censor the film, according to a BBC report stating that an MP is pressuring the Culture Minister to check that Beauty and the Beast complies with the country's laws against so-called 'gay propaganda.'
Discussing his character, Josh Gad told Associated Press: 'Bill Condon did an amazing job of giving us an opportunity to create a version of LeFou that isn't like the original, that expands on what the original did but makes him more human and makes him a wonderfully complex character.'
'I'm very proud of [the end scene.] It's an incredible moment and it's subtle, but I think it's effective.'
READ MORE: Beauty And The Beast: Everything You Need To Know About The Live Action Reboot
READ MORE: Emma Watson Is A Real-Life Belle At The Beauty And The Beast Premiere