Sarah Michelle Gellar confirmed during a recent visit on “Watch What Happens Live” that 2002’s live-action “Scooby Doo” movie shot and cut a “steamy” gay kiss between her character, Daphne, and Linda Cardellini’s Velma. The film also starred Matthew Lillard as Shaggy and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred. Gellar said all four actors signed onto the James Gunn-scripted film because it was “less family friendly,” only for the theatrical release to remove a lot of the risqué moments.
“There was a steamy kiss. It got cut. There was an actual kiss between Daphne and Velma that got cut,” Gellar said. “I feel like the world wants to see it. I don’t know where it is.”
Gellar also revealed that an insult Daphne made to Fred about Fred being gay was also cut from the “Scooby-Doo” theatrical release.
“There was a great line too that I’ll never forget,” Gellar said. “Daphne and Fred were having a fight and I yell at him, ‘That ascot makes you look gay!’ I slam the door [at him]. They cut that, too. I think that was the reason I signed onto the movie. It’s everyone’s thought for the long time. There’s always been an implication about Fred being interested in both parties. It all got cut.”
Gunn revealed in 2020 Twitter thread that he wanted to make Cardellini’s live-action Velma explicitly gay in “Scooby-Doo” and its 2004 sequel, “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,” but the studio wouldn’t let him.
“In 2001, Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” Gunn wrote at the time. “But the studio just kept watering it down and watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) and finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”
Velma officially came out as a lesbian last year in the “Scooby-Doo” animated movie, “Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!” Velma is seen explicitly crushing on another female character named Coco Diablo in the film. The recently-launched HBO max prequel series “Velma” also depicts Velma as queer.
“Velma has been around since 1969,” Cardellini told Entertainment Weekly last year after Velma came out. “I just went trick or treating with my daughter and there were a lot of Velmas out there, so I love that she still has this place in culture that is sort of always active for decades. I think [her being a lesbian has] been hinted at so many times, and I think it’s great that it’s finally out there.”
Watch Gellar’s full interview on “Watch What Happens Live” in the video below.
