"Bro kissed a man and immediately got baptized" — Netizens react to Denzel Washington becoming licensed minister in training

A tweet about Denzel Washington becoming a licensed minister in training has gone viral on X.

The tweet was uploaded by @mymixtapez on Sunday night (December 22) with a picture of the 69-year-old in a white church robe and a red sash with a white cross drawn on each side.

The tweet was captioned:

"Denzel Washington gets baptized and becomes a licensed minister in training."

It has since received over 3.9 million views, 105K likes, 9K reshares, and 1K comments. One netizen wrote:

"Bro kissed a man and immediately got baptized he regretted that scene."

For the unversed, the kiss referred to in the comment comes from Denzel Washington's statement in his Variety interview published November 18. In the interview, the Glory actor told the media outlet he had "kissed a guy full on the lips" in his latest release, Gladiator II.

However, the scene was taken out of the movie at the last minute, with Denzel's opinion of it being that "they weren't ready for that yet."

Other netizens speculated Washington's reason behind joining the Ministry to be associated with the ongoing Diddy trial somehow.

"Damn.. he on them diddy files ain’t he ?" - commented an X user.

"Look at pops giving his life to Christ." - replied another one.

"Denzel becoming a licensed minister within the COGIC denomination is potentially as impactful a moment on black institutions as Deion becoming a football coach in the SWAC conference. This could literally be another game changing moment in culture." - wrote a third user.

Meanwhile, some netizens expressed their surprise at Denzel Washington not being baptized at his age.

"How are you that old and not baptized already?" - added a fourth X user.

"His performances in movies like 'The Preacher's Wife' and 'Remember the Titans' are proof that he is gifted at sharing the messages of faith, hope, and perseverance. This is a clear reflection of his strong faith and deep desire to help others." - posted a fifth one.

"It’s never too late to go back HOME, try something new, change etc small or big. Never stop doing new shit that’s how you live and follow your heart!" - commented a sixth one.

Per PEOPLE Magazine, Washington got baptized at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ located in Harlem, New York City.

The entire ceremony was live-streamed by the First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Eastern New York on Facebook.

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Denzel Washington played the villain's character in Gladiator II

Gladiator II - a sequel to the 2000 historical epic movie, Gladiator - was released in the UK on November 15 and in the US seven days later (November 22).

In the movie, Denzel Washington portrayed the character of Macrinus - which was loosely inspired by the historical Roman Emperor, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

In the movie, Macrinus is a former slave who owns a stable of gladiators and is also an arms dealer who provides weapons, food, and oil to the Roman armies in Europe.

Macrinus is also the one who discovers Lucius (played by Paul Mescal) and trains him as his best gladiator. Macrinus' end goal is to become the emperor of Rome and can do anything to get there.

In an interview with the NY Times published on November 7, Ridley Scott was asked if he had conceived the character of Macrinus with Denzel Washington in mind.

Ridley replied in the negative, citing a painting by Jean-Leon Gerome, Moorish Bath, to be his inspiration.

The director then went on to describe Washington's character as "light and cunning, with hints of bisexuality." Scott continued:

"There's a twinkle. Also, he’s a gangster. I think he was clearly a prisoner of war, went to the ring, earned his freedom, suddenly working in a giant bread factory and supplied bread for the Roman army. He maybe eventually took that over, then goes to munitions, so he’s an arms dealer. I thought that was his evolution."

Ridley, who had previously worked with Denzel in the 2007 film, American Gangster, described the actor as:

"Always fractious, always. That’s who he is: Denzel, in a funny kind of way, is a Method actor. When he’s doing a part, he’s in the part all the time, so it isn’t Denzel daily, even off-camera."

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While promoting his Gladiator, Denzel Washington revealed that he is expected to appear in Marvel's upcoming project, Black Panther 3, Times Now reported on November 13.

According to Washington, Ryan Coogler - the director behind Black Panther movies - is writing a role specifically for him.

While the official announcement of the movie being in the making is yet to arrive, the last movie in the series, Wakanda Forever, was released in 2022.