Film Censorship Board (LPF) chairperson Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid has blamed "Beauty and the Beast" director Bill Condon for highlighting the "gay moment" much anticipated Disney movie.

He said the LPF had proposed snipping about four minutes and 38 seconds scene featuring a song, which contained a three second portion containing the purported suggestive lyrics performed by the character Le Fou (played by actor Josh Gad).

"But we could not recommend a three-second cut as it would make the song choppy and people would be angry. The other cuts are on the actions.

"Maybe if Condon had not mentioned the 'gay element', people wouldn't be so curious and we could let it go with a potentially minor cut. And this whole thing may not have been an issue," Abdul Halim told the New Sunday Times.

He further stressed that LPF's aim was to preserve films in its original form as much as possible.

"But the moment the 'gay element' is thrown into the mix, we had to protect ourselves. So what was initially three seconds, has become over four minutes.

"Parents will definitely ask us what is our stand on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) after watching the film and how did we allow such a film to be viewed by children without censorship. These are the things that will be difficult for us to answer.

Three problematic scenes

Abdul Halim said he himself had wanted to watch the movie with his granddaughter as she was part of a school play based on the fairytale that was written in the 18th century and later adapted as an animated movie by Disney in 1991.

"She doesn't know what has happened but her mother is very frustrated. I think the whole family is quite disappointed," he said.

Following LPF's attempt to censor a portion of the film, Disney had postponed the launch pending the appeal process.

Meanwhile, Abdul Halim said there were three things with the film which the LPF felt was inappropriate for Malaysian audiences.

The first was the song and the scene where Le Fou hugs another male character, Gaston, from behind.

"Secondly is the suggestive song lyrics with sexual innuendos and the third is a scene that takes place at the end of the movie.

"We understand the original song (from the 1991 animation) did not have any such (gay) reference.

Other audiences upset too

Citing Condon's remarks, Abdul Halim claimed that some parents had even emailed their concerns to him, and pointing to Russia's plan to revise viewers' rating for the movie to allow only mature audiences.

Abdul Halim also pointed out how the movie had rubbed people the wrong way in Alabama, United States.

"Malaysia does not recognise the LGBT ideology, so we have to be extra cautious in our work.

"We have our responsibilities to the country, the people and our constitution. If we let these scenes pass, people will wonder if Malaysia recognises LGBT," he added.

Nevertheless, Abdul Halim himself found the movie "very funny and entertaining".

"If they had removed those bits, it would not have disrupted the movie because they would only affect a small part of the subplot.

"The tale hinges on the love of a daughter for her father. Belle is a strong role model because she loves to read and even comes up with her own inventions, just like her inventor father.