Elton John has some choice words for critics of the upcoming movie about his life, Rocketman.
The film features actor Taron Egerton in the lead role, and some have expressed concern over the fact that Egerton, 29, is portraying a gay man, even though he is straight. In response to that criticism, John, 72, is calling it some major B.S.
“That’s all bulls—, I’m sorry,” the rock legend, 72, told The Sun.
“If people don’t like it, review-wise, or it doesn’t make one dollar, it’s the movie I wanted to make and that’s all that counts. I can look back and say, ‘You know what, I love it. I can live with it,'” he continued.
Egerton has previously spoken up about the on-screen love scenes with co-star Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Bodyguard), who plays John’s manager and former boyfriend, John Reid. The Robin Hood star said that he wasn’t any more or less enthusiastic about a same-sex love scene than he would be about one with a woman.
“For me, kissing a man onscreen is no less appealing than kissing a woman onscreen,” he said earlier this month in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m not in any way repulsed by the male form. It’s an uncomfortable thing regardless of who you’re with.”
“It makes no difference as to your sexual preference,” he said.
Egerton has also said that Rocketman “is absolutely a celebration of everything that Elton John is and part of that is his sexuality.”
John and Egerton have become friends over the movie’s production and have even sung together leading up to the film’s theatrical release.
Most recently, they serenaded fans after the movie’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival — where Egerton sweetly tied John’s shoe on the red carpet.
John began on the piano with a rendition of his 1983 song “I’m Still Standing.” Not long into the song, Egerton joined him on the beachside stage, and then the duo broke out into none other than the 1972 hit “Rocketman,” for which the movie is named.
“I don’t see an actor, I see myself,” John previously said of Egerton.
Rocketman hits theaters on May 31.
