Listen, if there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that the Gladiator franchise could be gayer. I mean, have you ever looked at ancient Rome? That was a literal haven for gay and queer relationships of all kinds. The answer to how queer was ancient Rome is “very.” With a cast that consists of Pedro Pascal, Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Joseph Quinn (best known for another character who really could have been queer, Eddie Munson), we would have loved to see Gladiator II reach for the gay stars. But recent press makes it sound like that probably didn’t happen. But did a gay kiss purposefully get cut out of Gladiator II? There’s been a lot of conversation about it, so let’s dive into the facts.
Denzel Washington Said a Gay Kiss Was Cut From Gladiator II
The first we heard of a gay kiss in Gladiator II was from Denzel Washington. He shared with Gayety (in answer, ironically, to “How gay is the Roman Empire?”): “I actually kissed a man in the film, but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken…” Washington 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.”
Denzel Washington sounds here like he’s pretty sure that he full-on kissed a man while filming Gladiator II. And he sounds a bit like he feels that the kiss was cut because the creators of Gladiator II were not ready to feature a gay kiss on film. Sadly, that does seem possible. But according to Ridley Scott, it’s not what went down.
Ridley Scott Denies Cutting a Gay Kiss From Gladiator II, Says It Never Happened
When asked if he cut the aforementioned gay kiss from Gladiator II, director Ridley Scott seemed affronted at the suggestion. He told Variety, “No, that’s bullshit… They never did. [kiss] They acted the moment — it didn’t happen.”
You can watch the video of Scott’s response above. Honestly, the denial the kiss happened is clear, but what “they acted the moment” means is a bit less so. My best guess is that Ridley Scott is trying to explain that Denzel Washington and whichever man he purportedly kissed blocked the scene but never went for it. It’s possible, but it does seem like Washington was pretty sure the gay kiss was filmed during Gladiator II‘s production. Then again, maybe the cameras weren’t rolling, or memories have just gotten complicated with time.
Either way, as mentioned, Ridley Scott seems pretty adamant a gay kiss was not filmed for Gladiator II and, thus, was not cut.
Denzel Washington Updates to Say Gay Kiss Was More of “A Peck”
Meanwhile, returning to the source of the Gladiator II gay kiss news himself, Denzel Washington shares that the gay kiss controversy is “much ado about nothing.” Washington notes, “It really is much ado about nothing… They’re making more of it than it was. I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck, and I killed him.” And that’s the latest detail we have on the Gladiator II kiss in question.
Ultimately, Washington doesn’t seem to share in Ridley Scott’s vision that there was no Gladiator II gay kiss in play. Instead, he now leans more toward the idea that if the kiss has been lost, it’s not really meaningful because it wasn’t really a full-on kiss as some people might be imagining it. His conviction about it being removed due to folks being chicken seems to have left the building. But there we have it, all the accounts of the controversial Gladiator II kiss.
So, Was There a Gay Kiss in Gladiator II?
So, ultimately, did Gladiator II film and cut a gay kiss from the movie? The world may never know. But what do we take away from this? What we would have taken away even if Denzel Washington had participated in gay “kiss of death” on screen. That Gladiator II is just not gay enough. And certainly not as gay as the Roman Empire was.
To be fair to Gladiator II, Denzel Washington’s character and others are noted to be queer on-screen. Paul Mescal also shared an anecdote that revealed that Ridley Scott approved of his kissing Pedro Pascal on the forehead while filming Gladiator II. He told Entertainment Weekly, “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 Pedro on the forehead… I did it in one of the takes, and 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.'”
While that gay-ish kiss is not in Gladiator II‘s final version, Scott has said, perhaps in jest, that it would make the director’s cut.
But regardless of crumbs, with a cast that features so many men in ancient Rome, someone ought to have been in a full-on gay relationship that can’t be cut with the removal of one scene. And that fact holds true regardless. We’re not totally sure that the argument of “we didn’t purposefully cut the gay kiss because we didn’t have a gay kiss to cut” is really that effective. Nor is the argument of “the gay Gladiator II kiss was cut, but it wasn’t really all that juicy” very compelling. Make Gladiator gay, chickens!
