Ridley Scott Clarifies Denzel Washington 'Acted' Same-Sex Kiss inGladiator IIbut It Ultimately 'Didn't Happen'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ridley Scott at the world premiere ofGladiator IIin London on Nov. 13, 2024; Denzel Washington inGladiator II(2024).Photo:Samir Hussein/WireImage; Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

Samir Hussein/WireImage; Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

Ridley Scottis setting the record straight onDenzel Washington’s same-sex kiss fromGladiator II.

When asked about the scene at the film’s Hollywood premiere, the director shared in an interview withVarietythat the scene was “acted” out but ultimately wasn’t shot for the cameras.

“Denzel said he kissed a man on the lips but it didn’t make the final cut,” an interviewer from the outlet told Scott, 86, who responded, “No, that’s bull—-."

He went on to note that there was a moment between Washington’s character Macrinus and “a senator” but clarified, “They never did [kiss]. They acted the moment — it didn’t happen.”

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Denzel Washington inGladiator II(2024).Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

Washington, 69, was also asked about the scene at the premiere. He toldVarietythat it was a “peck” rather than a “kiss,” and that the whole thing “really is much ado about nothing.”

“They’re making more of it than it was,” the two-timeAcademy Awardwinner said. “I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck and I killed him.”

Washington previouslysaid that he kissed a male costarin a since-deleted moment after being asked “how gay” the sequel to the 2000 blockbuster was.

“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out. They cut it,” the actor toldGayetyearlier this month. “I think they got chicken.”

“I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet,” he added, before joking that in the sequence he “killed him about five minutes later” in what he called the “kiss of death.”

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Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington inGladiator II(2024).Aidan Monaghan/Paramount Pictures

That reportedly wasn’t the only kiss scene to end up on the cutting-room floor.Paul Mescal, who also stars in the film, revealed in an interview withEntertainment Weeklythat he rehearsed a forehead kiss scene between him andPedro Pascal, which didn’t make it into the movie either.

“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,” Mescal said. “His radio crackles back, and [Ridley] goes, ‘I’m afraid I did.’ "

Gladiator IIis in theaters Friday, Nov. 22.

source: people.com