Ridley Scott denies Gladiator II cut Denzel Washington’s gay kiss: ‘That’s bulls**t’

Gladiator II director Ridley Scott has denied that the film was meant to have a gay kiss for Denzel Washington’s character.

Despite Scott’s blockbuster sequel featuring a lot of homoerotic moments, it was reportedly set to have one explicitly queer scene: a gay kiss involving Washington.

Fences star Washington had claimed that his character, Macrinus, who is bisexual and one of the film’s cruellest tyrants, had a gay smooch that ended up on the cutting room floor.

“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took [it] out. I think they got chicken,” he told Gayety. “I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed them about five minutes later, but… it’s Gladiator. The kiss of death.”

However, Scott has now denied that the kiss happened at all. 

‘It didn’t happen’

“No, that’s bulls**t,” he told Variety on Monday (18 November) at the film’s premiere in Hollywood. “They never did. They acted the moment, it didn’t happen.”

Also at the premiere, Washington clarified his earlier comment, saying: “They’re making more of it than it was. I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck and I killed him.”

Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, two of Gay Twitter’s biggest crushes, also star in the film.

Mescal, who plays captive gladiator and leading man Lucius, previously revealed that he improvised a kiss with Pascal while the pair were getting sweaty for a fight scene, but it didn’t make the final cut. 

“There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro, and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss [him] on the forehead,” Mescal said. “I did it in one of the takes, then we’re getting the radio messages back to Ridley [in video village], and I was like, ‘Ridley: kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yay or nay?’

“There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackles back, and [Ridley] goes: ‘I’m afraid I did’.”

Gladiator II is in UK cinemas now and is due to open in the US on Friday (22 November). 

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.