Donald Glover says his Star Wars character Lando is pansexual
Donald Glover and Chewbacca attend Solo: A Star Wars Story photocall (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty)
Donald Glover has backed suggestions that his Star Wars character is pansexual – despite a reported zero same-sex interactions on screen.
Fans accused Star Wars producers of queer-baiting this month after claims that fan favourite character Lando Calrissian is actually pansexual.
The character was played by Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, while Glover is set to play a younger version of him in upcoming prequel film Solo: A Star Wars Story.
After Star Wars writer Jonathan Kasdan claimed the character’s sexuality is “fluid,” Glover this week voiced his support for the interpretation.
Actor Donald Glover (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty)
Asked if he was aware of the intention, Glover told SiriusXM: “Yeah… how can you not be pansexual in space? There are so many things to have sex with!”
He added: “I didn’t think that was that weird. Yeah, he’s coming on to everybody. Whatever.
“It didn’t seem that weird to me, because I feel like if you’re in space it’s kind of like, the door is open!
“It’s [not] like, ‘only guys or girls.’ No, it’s anything. This thing is literally a blob. Are you a man or a woman? Like, who cares?
“Have a good time out here.”
Donald Glover attends Solo: A Star Wars Story (Jamie McCarthy/Getty)
Glover added: “He’s eclectic. He likes different things. He’s somebody who goes around and tries everything, and I just didn’t think about it that much.
“But I was like, he’s a charming person so I feel like he doesn’t have hard and fast boundaries about everything.
“Having somebody tell me that, I’m like, OK, cool, makes sense to me. Is it weird that I didn’t think about it that much?”
Glover’s character is not believed to have a same-sex romance on screen.
The story has ignited anger from LGBT fans, who have been critical of the lack of queer representation in the Star Wars movies and other Disney blockbusters.
Disney’s other blockbuster franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has not featured a single explicitly LGBT character across 19 releases to date.
Deadpool 2, which is produced by 20th Century Fox, recently became the first major superhero film to feature out queer heroes.
Ryan Reynolds hinted that as Deadpool was already blacklisted in several Asian markets due to violence and crude content, it was easier to secure LGBT representation in the follow-up.
Reynolds said: “That’s not really a problem for us, because we were banned in China. We were rated ‘f**k you!’ in China.”
By contrast it is unlikely the MCU or Star Wars franchise, both of which rely on a global release to bring in hefty box office profits, could risk upsetting censors in conservative countries.
Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast was banned in several markets after the director’s inference that a background character was gay, though the film featured no explicitly LGBT content.
Glover, who is also known as the rapper Childish Gambino, has two sons with his girlfriend Michelle.
Donald Glover takes part in SiriusXM’s Town Hall with the cast of Solo: A Star Wars Story (Cindy Ord/Getty)
He previously maintained some ambiguity about his own sexuality – with hints included in his music.
On 2011 track “Not Going Back” he rapped: “Black dudes assume I’m closeted or kinda gay/White people confused like girl on Glee and Gabourey.”
On Ariana Grande’s 2014 track “Break Your Heart Right Back,” he rapped, “Don’t understand how to spell it out for ya/Yes, I’m a G, from the A [Atlanta], and they ask why,” which fans noted spells out gay.
He also released a mysterious short film in 2013 about a same-sex encounter, telling Vice: “I just said fuck it, let me tell the story of how one time I kissed a boy. Am I gay? I don’t know, maybe.”
