Josh Gad on the gay moment in 'Beauty and the Beast'

Actor Josh Gad says having a gay character of LeFou in Disney's live-action version "Beauty And The Beast" was his idea.

Disney and Gad were applauded for making the character gay in the 2017 film, but there was backlash, too, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

In an interview in "Radio Andy with Andy Cohen", the actor opened up about the decision to make him gay.

"Here's what we decided we decided that LeFou's happy ending would be to dance with another man," the actor said.

The moment, which is in the film, was actually Gad's idea.

"It was my pitch, that's how I really wanted the movie to end. I was so amazed they let us do it," Gad said.

"That became such a controversial thing, apparently, even though it was only three seconds of screen time. We never put a spotlight on it. We never meant to put a spotlight on it. It became a conflated, weird controversy," he added.

"Director Bill Condon was very proud of the moment and the moment speaks for itself," Gad said.

"In light of that fact that so many people were like, 'Blah, blah, blah,' there were so many people who stood up and applauded that moment and were so excited about it. I think there is still lots more work to be done in equal representation, and I really hope that Disney keeps finding more ways to do that," he added.

( With inputs from IANS )