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Actor withdraws from Hellboy role over whitewash claims

Posted by Ando, 05 Sep

Credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com

Last week, white actor, Ed Skrein, who had been cast as one of the leads in the movie 'Hellboy' reboot, stepped down from his role after he realizes that his character, Major Ben Daimio, was originally of Asian heritage in the comic books.

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Lately, such casting decisions, where a role meant for a minority is given to a white person, has been criticized by many. This 'whitewashing'of movie characters has been happening a lot with Asians, giving birth to the hashtag #WhiteWashedOut.

In a statement on Monday, the 'Deadpool' actor said:

"I accepted the role unaware that the character in the original comics was of mixed Asian heritage. There has been intense conversation and understandable upset since that announcement, and I must do what I feel is right."

His decision to withdraw from this role was hailed by the creator of the Hellboy comics and the actor signing on for the role.

Recently, there have been two blockbuster movies that cast white actresses in Asian roles. In the movie adaptation of Japanese series,'Ghost in a Shell', Scarlett Johansson was cast to play the role of Major Motoko Kusanag. There was a major uproar from fans, who felt that the role should have been given to a Japanese actress. Also, the first trailer of 'Doctor Strange' had also cast Tilda Swinton, to play the Ancient one; a character which in the comic books is Tibetan.

Well, clearly, this is putting down Asian talent in Hollywood.

Skrein added:

"It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect that. Therefore, I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately."

Well for fair representation and diversity to exist, we need actors like Skrein. Below is his full statement:

A post shared by Ed Skrein (@edskrein) on Aug 28, 2017 at 12:03pm PDT

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8 responses to "Actor withdraws from Hellboy role over whitewash claims"

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  1.   FmaleLedRshp says:
    Posted: 16 Sep 17

    He's hot.

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  2.   exoticone1 says:
    Posted: 08 Sep 17

    We need more actors like this gentleman to stand-up for what is morally WRONG! We are all equally accountable for our actions, or the lack there of! Standing by and not working on solving this issue demonstrates you condone the practice. If someone is being assaulted, raped, or verbally/physically abused, would you stand by, do nothing, and allow it to continue without speaking up....? Perhaps a movie portraying Ronald Regan, George Bush, or George Washington should cast Denzel at play the role of these men, lol!

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  3.   DarrenStar80 says:
    Posted: 07 Sep 17

    I left a reply that looks like it was removed! So much for free speech. The guys an idiot,pandering to SJWs who are never happy. Shame on him.

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  4.   dodgethis2k says:
    Posted: 06 Sep 17

    Two more examples: In the Thor movies Baldur and Valkyrie (in the new movie out 11/2017) are now black, but Norse were white. In the recent Wonder Woman movie there were at least two black amazons, yet there shouldn't be any since their island is set near Greece. You can't have it both ways. Grow up.

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    • D.L.B. says:
      Posted: 29 Sep 17

      Well whites have always played roles of African decent for years. Examples of Biblical movies set in Egypt which is basically in Africa . Hollywood never cast any people of color as main characters. Moses is of African decent but Charleston Heston is a white man tho. Prime example

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  5.   dodgethis2k says:
    Posted: 06 Sep 17

    Eddie Murphy (Nutty Professor and Doctor Dolittle) and Will Smith (Wild, Wild West and I Am Legend) built careers on playing white characters. '...About Last Night' was a highly successful movie in 1986 and that cast was all white, yet there was a remake in 2013 with an all black cast. There are MANY more examples of your hypocrisy. Yet you delicate flower snowflake leftists act as if those never happened.

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  6.   Paganinifan says:
    Posted: 05 Sep 17

    I'm in no way shape or form a liberal but I can completely understand his decision. It's also no big surprise that major studios cast people by how popular they are, not necessarily their race. We live in a country where the liberals cry about equality, but they are the same people who won't go see a movie unless there's a well known name in it. They fool no one. European films cast nearly nobodies and they do just fine. Why do we even need to remake foreign films to begin with? If Hollywood sees a fan base for these foreign films, why not just release them into OUR theatres instead of remaking them? We shove all our movies down the throats of the rest of the world, its about time the rest of the world does the same to us and the original copyright owners tell Hollywood "No, you're NOT remaking our movie with American actors". Period.

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  7.   Paganinifan says:
    Posted: 05 Sep 17

    A HELLBOY reboot already???!!!! Hollywood is truly lacking in originality. To hell with Hollywood and their damn remakes upon remakes. Piss off hollywood!

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