Tom Holland(Spider-man) just did a film where he got reamed on screen and no one batted an eye
If popular White actors like Hanks, Gyllenhaal, Chamalet, Pacino.etc can go in and out of gay parts without fuss from the public then I don't see why popular Black actors can't do the same. Denzel still a GOAT and the scene was cut anyway.
IIRC He didn't want to piss off his Black female audience. That's when he was still coming up. He's a 70 year old veteran actor now, he's been to the mountaintop, he don't give a fukk what anyone thinks at this point.