Denzel Washington recently spilled on a same-sex kiss scene he filmed for “ Gladiator II ” that won’t make it to the big screen this month. “I actually kissed a man in the film, but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken,” said the actor, who plays Macrinus in the “Gladiator” sequel, in an interview with Gayety’s Caitlynn McDaniel.

Rome teeters on the brink in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II.” Its fall is said to be imminent. The dream it once symbolized is dead. The once high-minded ideals of the Roman Empire have deteriorated across a venal land now ruled by a pale-faced emperor.