Denzel Washington Says He Kissed a Man on the Lips in 'Gladiator 2'

Denzel Washington brought some authenticity to his "Gladiator II" character's sexuality ... 'cause he says he straight-up kissed a dude in a scene -- but, fans won't get to see it.

The actor sat down for an interview with Gayety -- an LGBTQ+-focused media company -- and, they asked him about his character's revelation that he'd been in same-sex couplings before ... leaving them to wonder how gay the Roman Empire truly was.

DW says they didn't just reference his character's past in the flick ... they actually showed him lip-to-lip with another man in a scene -- a full-on smooch in the Ancient Rome film.

To anyone excited to see Denzel gettin' down with a Roman centurion, hold your chariots ... 'cause he says the scene ended up on the cutting room floor -- snipped from the film for an unknown reason.

Denzel thinks the team behind the movie "got chicken" ... even though the kiss wasn't very romantic -- since Denzel kills his scene partner 5 minutes after giving him the kiss.

Washington plays Macrinus -- a former slave who plots to control Rome -- in the sequel to Ridley Scott's iconic 2000 film starring Russell Crowe. Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen and more stars join Denzel in the new flick.

The cast came out for the London premiere Wednesday night ... and, even King Charles pulled up to the ritzy affair.