Ewan McGregor on Beauty and the Beast's gay character controversy: 'It's 2017 for f**k sake'

The Trainspotting star was a guest on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show

Ewan McGregor at the New York Beauty and the Beast premiere (Getty)

Despite having not reached cinemas yet, Disney’s upcoming adaptation of Beauty and the Beast has caused a stir online thanks to the already infamous “exclusively gay moment.”

Numerous members of the cast have spoken out about the controversy, most recently Ian McKellen, who joked about the film being “another gay extravaganza" from Gods & Monsters’ Bill Condon.

Ewan McGregor has now spoken about the uproar, saying on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show: “It’s just like, he’s a gay character and it’s 2017 for f**k sake.”

He said jokingly in the interview earlier: “There’s a lot of gay sex in this cartoon and I think if you live anywhere near Alabama you should not go and see this film. What would Jesus think?”

The actor was likely referring to an Alabama cinema, the Henagar Drive-In, that cancelled screenings of Beauty and the Beast following Condon’s comments in Attitude magazine.

“LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” the filmmaker commented. “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realising that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it.”

Russian officials have given the family feature a more restrictive rating because of the "gay content", while Malaysia appears to have pulled the film from local listings altogether.