'Gladiator II' Gay Kiss Was Among Several Improvised Takes Cut, Decision Wasn't Prejudice

Denzel Washington threw some shade at the producers of "Gladiator II" when he talked about a gay kiss he had in the film that was cut, allegedly over cold feet ... but it seems there is more to the story, TMZ is told.

A production source tells us ... the moment in question happened, but it was not in the script -- and done during an improvised take of which there were many for the scene.

The kiss take -- and other improvised takes -- ended up on the cutting room floor as a story choice. No prejudice went into making the decision, we're told.

Denzel made the comment during an interview with Gayety -- an LGBTQ+-focused media company -- and, they asked him about his character's revelation that he'd been in same-sex couplings before.

DW says they didn't just reference his character's past in the flick ... they actually showed him lip-to-lip with another man in a scene -- a full-on smooch in the Ancient Rome film.

But, the scene ended up snipped out, and Denzel thought the team behind the movie "got chicken." Worth noting ... the embrace wasn't very romantic -- since Denzel kills his scene partner minutes after planting the kiss on him.

In the highly anticipated film, DW plays Macrinus -- a former slave who plots to control Rome -- in the sequel to Ridley Scott's iconic 2000 blockbuster that catapulted Russell Crowe into superstardom.

Are you not entertained?