“Beauty and the Beast” star Josh Gadd to play Disney's first openly gay character

Disney – 2017(LOS ANGELES) — Josh Gadd’s appearance as LeFou, the sidekick to Luke Evans’ Gaston in Disney’s live-action remake of its classic animated feature Beauty and the Beast will break ground for the studio — he’ll play Disney’s first openly gay character.

In a split from Disney’s 1991 animated classic, director Bill Condon tells Attitude magazine that Gadd’s character is exploring his identity, explaining, “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings.”

Adds Condon, “Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”

Beauty and the Beast, also starring Emma Watson, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci, opens nationwide March 17.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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