Julia Roberts has admitted that she requested that her friend Denzel Washington play her love interest in the 1993 film "The Pelican Brief," saying "he did amazing things with a character that didn't look like much on paper." However, Roberts also said "I have taken so much s**t over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film."

Roberts said, "Of course I wanted to kiss Denzel. It was his idea to take the damn scenes out." Washington reportedly wanted the scenes removed after receiving bad reactions from Black women during a test screening of 1989's "The Mighty Quinn," in which he kisses white actress Mimi Rogers.

"Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film," Washington explained to Newsweek. "They have always been my core audience." Apparently, the actor decided to stay true to his audience and not Black female moviegoers with another interracial kiss after "Mighty Quinn" — but that's not where the story ends.

Washington's spokesman said the actor was not responsible for any deleted scenes in "The Pelican Brief," contradicting Julia Roberts. Washington even went on to kiss Kelly Reilly in 2012's "Flight" to little to no outrage, and he and Roberts are still friends, so it looks like the kiss debacle didn't matter much in the end.