10 Films Cinemas Refused To Play (And Why)

4. Beauty And The Beast

Beauty And The Beast LeFou Josh Gad
Disney

Disney's live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast contained the company's first ever openly gay character - LeFou, played by Josh Gad.

While not a major component of the film, LeFou had one or two moments that clearly hinted at his sexuality, which was something that many people hailed as a strong step forward for representation in movies. But not everyone felt that way.

In particular, the Henagar drive-in theatre in Alabama flat-out refused to show the film simply because it featured a gay character. In a statement on its Facebook page (via Business Insider), the cinema explained its controversial decision by saying that it wished to stick to the Bible's teachings:

"For those that do not know 'Beauty and the Beast' is 'premiering' their first homosexual character. If we can not take our 11 year old grand daughter and 8 year old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it. If I can't sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it. I know there will be some that do not agree with this decision. That's fine. We are first and foremost Christians. We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches."

As you'd expect, this stance wasn't received very well, and the post has since been removed, while Beauty and the Beast went on to make over $1.2 billion globally.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!