The director explains the backstory behind Washington's scene-stealing character, and how he's not unlike the president-elect.

The director is responding to some controversial tea the actor spilled about filming the highly-anticipated sequel.

“ Gladiator II ” director Ridley Scott is clearing the air about Denzel Washington’s claim that a same-sex kiss was cut from the new movie. “No, that’s bullshit,” Scott, 86, told Variety on the red carpet at the action film’s Los Angeles premiere on Monday.

Denzel Washington may have said that his same-sex kiss in “Gladiator II” was cut from the movie because the powers that be got “chicken,” but, according to director Ridley Scott, the kiss may not have happened at all.

Actress Connie Nielsen, who reunites with Ridley Scott as she reprises her role as Lucilla from the original Gladiator, agreed with the producer, revealing that her own grieving scene was left on the cutting room floor.

In this Ridley Scott rehash, a muscular Paul Mescal and conflicted Pedro Pascal fail to capture the magic of the original.

Gladiator II' will hit theaters 24 years after the first film came out (2000) and won five Oscars the following year.

It’s been nearly 25 years since legendary director Ridley Scott made sword-and-sandal epics popular again with his box office juggernaut Gladiator. That 2000 blockbuster boasted a muscular and commanding Russell Crowe as former Roman general Maximus,

Not all critics were entertained by “Gladiator II,” the hotly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical epic. Scott’s star-studded second chapter, entering the theatrical arena Friday, picks up years after Russell Crowe’s Roman general Maximus was killed by Joaquin Phoenix’s emperor Commodus in the Oscar-winning predecessor.