‘I think they got chicken’: Denzel Washington says gay kiss was cut from Gladiator II

Denzel Washington has speculated that anxiety was behind the decision to cut a same-sex kiss from Gladiator II.

Washington, whose performance as ruthless power broker Macrinus in Ridley Scott’s sequel has picked up considerable awards buzz, told Variety: “I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken.”

He added: “I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It’s Gladiator. It’s the kiss of death.”

Macrinus is bisexual in the film, as are the emperors, played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger. Washington has not played a gay character before, but did star in seminal 1993 drama Philadelphia, as an attorney who overcomes his own prejudices about homosexuality and fears about Aids to represent the dying man played by Tom Hanks.

Washington most recently collaborated with Scott on 2007’s American Gangster, and said he’d been left “tremendously inspired”. “We had a great go-round the first go-round and here we are. He’s engaged. He’s excited about life and his next film. He’s an inspiration.”

Scott created the Alien franchise, often acclaimed as one of the most clearly queer franchises, and whose 2017 instalment, Alien: Covenant, featured a same-sex couple.

The heroines of his 1991 film, Thelma & Louise, also share a memorable kiss in the film’s final scene.

Related: Gladiator II review – Paul Mescal slays in Ridley Scott’s gobsmacking reboot

Mainstream films regularly trim scenes featuring LGBTQ+ content either wholesale or in international cuts, to avoid being censored in less tolerant countries.

A brief same-sex kiss in Toy Story spin-off Lightyear led to the film being banned in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Malaysia, while Barbie was outlawed in Kuwait and Lebanon after it was accused of “promoting homosexuality and sexual transformation.”

Gladiator II is released in the UK on 15 November and in the US on 22 November.