Sherlock Holmes: Gay? Not on your Nelly!!

The copyright holder of Sherlock Holmes has indicated she would veto a sequel to the smash hit movie should the main characters be played gay.

The film, currently the No.2 Box office draw in the UK and US behind Avatar, stars Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as his loyal side-kick Dr. Watson.

In interviews Downey Jr has been happy to fuel speculation that the two main characters were more than just crime-cracking cohorts and that homoerotic undertones in the movie were intentionally played up…

When prompted by chat show host David Letterman on whether he thought Holmes and Watson were lovers Downey Jr responded: "….let the audience decide if he (Holmes) just happens to be a very butch homosexual….Which there are many…And I'm proud to know certain of them."

Downey went on to quip that Watsons fiancé may have been a ‘beard’ – a gay slang term describing a woman who poses as a romantic ‘cover’ to conceal sexual orientation.

Andrea Plunket, who currently holds the copyright to Sherlock Holmes, isn’t amused at the suggestion that Holmes and Watson were perhaps solving more than just mysteries…

She told Total Film: “I hope this is just an example of Mr Downey's black sense of humour. It would be drastic, but I would withdraw permission for more films to be made if they feel that is a theme they wish to bring out in the future.

"I am not hostile to homosexuals, but I am to anyone who is not true to the spirit of the books.”

Grossing well over $100 million in its first month of release Sherlock Holmes is the second hit film in a row for director and Madonna-ex Guy Richie.

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