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The Hellboy ‘Whitewashing’ Fiasco Just Got the Perfect Resolution

The Hellboy ‘Whitewashing’ Fiasco Just Got the Perfect Resolution

According to an article Entertainment Weekly posted this evening, the television world just served up a double dose of poetic justice.

Daniel Dae Kim, the Korean-American television star who made his name on Lost, just assumed the role of Major Ben Daimio, after recently stepping down from Hawaii 5-0, along with his co-star Grace Park, after they discovered their white counterparts were getting paid considerably more.

This news signifies a particularly delicious victory for fans fed up with Hollywood’s track record of white washing roles intended for actors of color, especially Asian-Americans.

His hiring comes on the heels of white actor Ed Skrein stepping down from the role, after an onslaught of social media criticism for the whitewashing of a character who was originally a Japanese-American officer at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense with the superhuman power to transform into a jaguar.

From casting white actors in lead roles in Iron FistGhost in the Shell, Doctor Strange, Death Note and Aloha, Hollywood has exhibited that it has a long way to go in reflecting the present day, in which audiences want to see Asian-American actors play Asian-American characters.

With this new win for Daniel Dae Kim, the groundswell of Asian-American actors standing up for their right to portray themselves appears to be paying off.  And hopefully, this time, it’s a very big pay check.

 

 

Lucia Brawley
Lucia Brawley is a Harvard- and Yale-educated writer, producer, actor, and political organizer. She runs the progressive political Facebook group Consenting to Lead. To learn more, please go to luciabrawley.com.

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