The Fairy Princess is not often surprised.
Other than the Ice Dragon. That was surprising.
However today she learned that British Actor, Ed Skrein withdrew from a major film he was cast in, HELLBOY.
He was set to play a character of mixed Asian descent- Major Ben Daimio – who specifically was of Japanese descent.
There was a Twitter uprising amongst Asian America- who have been whitewashed from so many projects that…well we were going to need a bigger t-shirt.
Which you can order here, btw.
The Fairy Princess can acknowledge when people change their mind- there was so much about this that was as disturbing about this casting.
Not only that Ed Skrein was cast, but the welcomed effusively by the comic’s creator, Mike Mignola. Imagine being a writer and ‘having to’ sign off on a character that could not possibly portray the character you wrote, in which his background was of vital importance?
Imagine an Exec Female Producer, such as HELLBOY‘s Christa Campbell who took absolute delight in telling everyone to *uck off, because she ‘did not see color’ and also, her family has some Thai heritage.
Seems the only one who listened to the audience and the activists was Ed Skrein.
For which TFP says ‘Bravo!’
Standing up for your own dignity as an Actor is hard.
Standing up against the studio system that cast you, is hard.
Not cashing a sizable paycheck and the resulting flack from all those who get a piece of that paycheck, is hard.
The truth is, while TFP does not suggest that Mr. Skrein has issues with a healthy balance in his bank account the truth is, we simply do not know his life– we do not.
Which is why, People of Color need to acknowledge specifically that this was an important thing Mr. Skrein did and not just dance party it up and gloat.
Now, of course partially his desire to flee this role, may be in part because he had no desire to be trolled by ASIAN TWITTER- but at some core level- his reasons for withdrawing to TFP seem sincere.
The man will be taking a financial hit to ‘do the right thing’ – and that is where change begins.
TFP does believe that Mr. Skrein probably had no idea that Major Ben Daimio had Asian ancestry in his background as a character, he probably had not read HELLBOY before, or at least not in a while.
She buys it.
Now – everyone that trolled Mr. Skrein on Twitter, go and do the right thing – write him back and THANK HIM – because he is the ONLY ONE WHO HAS DONE THE RIGHT THING!
Even if ‘we’ the general viewing public do not see what this has cost him, people who have worked in Hollywood know that he will likely pay some kind of ‘price’ for this.
And if you happen to own a mochi ice cream/bubble tea/shaved iced desert place – send him a free coupon!
(Why not? Everyone loves coupons!)
Mr. Skrein – THANK YOU. Sincerely.
TFP gave you a hard time, but she is very grateful you stood up.
Jolly good show!
And in case you need a refresher course to serve to Matt, Tilda, Emma or Scarlett should they send condolences, just tell them…
TFP out!
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