Sarah Michelle Gellar has confirmed the rumoured same-sex kiss in the first Scooby-Doo film.
If you were a kid or tween in the early 2000s, chances are you’ve heard of the live-action film based on the hit cartoon franchise.
Released in 2002, the movie follows the iconic Mystery Gang – consisting of Fred Jones (Freddie Prinze Jr), Velma Dinkley (Linda Cardellini), Daphne Blake (Gellar), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby Doo – as they travel to Spooky Island to solve the mystery of its cursed tourists.
While the film received negative reviews during its initial release, it has since become a cult classic within the LGBTQ+ community – with many praising the film for Velma and Daphne’s queer undertones.
During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Gellar opened up about the comedy and revealed that a kiss between her and Cardellini’s characters was cut.
“There was a steamy – I mean, I said it was steamy, they probably didn’t think it was hence it was cut,” the Wolf Pack star said.
When host Andy Cohen asked for clarification, Gellar doubled down, stating: “There was an actual kiss between Daphne and Velma that got cut. I feel like the world wants to see it. But I don’t know where it is.”
In addition to the Velma and Daphne kiss, the Buffy the Vampire star also admitted to another scene being cut from the film – which involved Prinze Jr’s Fred.
“We were having a fight, Daphne and Fred, and then I yell at him, ‘And that ascot makes you look gay!’ And I slam the door, and they cut that, too,” she explained.
She went on to say that the Fred line was part of the reason why she signed on to the film because “it’s something everyone thought for a long time.”
“There’s always been an implication about Fred being interested in both parties. It all got cut. It was less family-friendly to begin with,” she added.
Gellar’s recent interview comes a couple of years after James Gunn – who served as the film’s writer – revealed that Velma was originally supposed to be portrayed as “explicitly gay.”
During a Twitter Q&A in 2020, a fan asked Gunn if he could “please make our live-action lesbian Velma dreams come true,” to which he responded: “I tried! In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script.
“But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”
Watch Gellar’s full interview here or below.