Jack Whitehall Faces Backlash After Being Cast as a Gay Character in Disney's Jungle Cruise

Disney is once again working on a film based on a theme park ride with Jungle Cruise, and they've been able to cast stars Emily Blunt and the Rock to be in the film. Jack Whitehall (Bad Education) has also been cast, but a lot of backlash has suddenly gone out online because of it.

According to The Sun, Whitehall has been cast as a gay character in Jungle Cruise, which a lot of people think isn't right, since Whitehall isn't a homosexual. A source describes Whitehall's character in the film:

"He is playing a gay man - one who is hugely effete, very camp and very funny… This latest script, set at a time when it wasn't socially acceptable to be gay, is another significant turning point."

The role is also said to be that of the brother of Emily Blunt's character who I am expecting is reluctantly whisked away into an adventure that he doesn't want any part of.

A lot of backlash is coming from the fact that the character is being marketed as Disney's first ‘openly gay' character, and that there are a lot of openly gay and ‘effete' men in Hollywood that would have been better for the role.

However, this isn't really the first gay character in a Disney movie at all. When Beauty and the Beast came out last year, Josh Gad's Lefou was also said to be the first gay character in a Disney film. It turned out that most of the character's homosexuality was just implied, but there was no backlash at all. Maybe people were just happy to actually have a gay character in the movie at all? Luke Evans is gay and he played Gaston. Where's the backlash there?

On the other side of the issue, some people think it's quite ridiculous that straight men aren't allowed to play gay characters since gay characters play straight ones all the time. Someone also made a point that it was stereotyping to just have gay actors only play gay characters.

Eat your heart out arguing this online.

Jungle Cruise is set to come out Oct. 11, 2019.

See Also: Emily Blunt and The Rock Announce Start of Production for Disney's Jungle Cruise