Marvel fans up in arms against Anthony Mackie over his controversial comment

Hollywood star Anthony Mackie is in hot waters following a contentious statement about homosexuality in his Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Solider.

The Captain America actor was asked by Variety how he feels about fans that were pining hopes on the main characters of Sam and Bucky to get romantically involved.

“For me, in this day and age, so many things are twisted and convoluted. There’s so many things that people latch onto with their own devices to make themselves relevant and rational,” said the 42-year-old.

“The idea of two guys being friends and loving each other in 2021 is a problem because of the exploitation of homosexuality,” he went on to say.

“It used to be guys could be friends, we could hang out,” he said, adding that men “can’t do that anymore because something as pure and beautiful as homosexuality is being exploited by people trying to rationalize themselves.”

Mackie's response has ruffled the feathers of quite a few people.

One user wrote: “Anthony Mackie waited until pride month to talk about how annoying it is for gay people with virtually no representation in the MCU to head [canon] their faves as gay.”

“Please stop asking about gay shipping in 2021 i would prefer to be blithely unaware that anthony mackie is so uncomfortable with queer readings of his character that he thinks he can’t hang out at a bar with his dude friends,” said another angry fan.