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14 Actors Who Were Hit With Racist Backlash As Soon As Their Casting Was Announced

1. Idris Elba

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As soon as the casting announcement for The Little Mermaid was released, racist trolls were in an uproar about Halle playing Ariel. Another wave of backlash followed the first trailer. She told Variety that her family supported her throughout the hate. “It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you.'”

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3. Rachel Zegler

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The actor has faced multiple rounds of racist backlash since she was cast as Snow White in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake. During a Variety interview, she said, “When it got announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry. We need to love them in the right direction.”

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Last month, set pictures were leaked, and the racist trolls came out again in full force. In response, Rachel took to Twitter, writing, “Please don’t tag me in the nonsensical discourse about my casting. I really, truly do not want to see it.” She included adorable childhood pics of herself and added, “I hope every child knows they can be a princess, no matter what.”

extremely appreciative of the love i feel from those defending me online, but please don’t tag me in the nonsensical discourse about my casting. i really, truly do not want to see it.so i leave you w these photos! i hope every child knows they can be a princess no matter what pic.twitter.com/AU5PjJutK5

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) July 15, 2023Rachel Zegler / Twitter: @rachelzegler

4. Nico Parker

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When posters for The Last of Us were released and fans of the video game discovered Nico was playing Joel’s daughter, Sarah, people posted hateful comments on social media. Nico told Yahoo Entertainment, “There are people for whom the game is incredibly important to them. But when it comes from a place where it’s just a disdain toward any kind of inclusivity, that’s where I don’t care. I don’t value that opinion, and I don’t agree.”

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“I hope they can look past it and still enjoy the show,” she continued. “But I think inclusivity is incredibly important. If young kids watch the show and feel they’re represented through race or hair or anything, that’s ten times more important than anyone who doesn’t like it because they don’t like to see different people on their screen.”

5. Kelly Marie Tran

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After Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters, the harassment was swift and severe. Kelly, who played Rose Tico, received so much hate that she quit social media and started going to therapy.

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Many have speculated the negative fan reaction is the reason why her role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was greatly diminished. And before the movie even came out, another wave of racist and sexist backlash hit. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “If someone doesn’t understand me or my experience, it shouldn’t be my place to have to internalize their misogyny or racism or all of the above. Maybe they just don’t have the imagination to understand that there are different types of people living in the world.”

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6. Steve Toussaint

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The actor played Corlys Velaryon in the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. He told Radio Times, “When they announced [my casting], one of the first things I saw on social media was a drawing of the character [from the books] next to a picture of me. And then there was the racist abuse that came with that. I kind of thought: ‘Oh, I get it. When we were criminals and pirates and slaves in the other show, you were OK with that. But as this guy is the richest [character] in the show and he’s a nobleman, now you have a problem with it.'”

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7. Zendaya

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When the world found out Zendaya would take on the iconic role of MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming, trolls flooded the internet with baseless criticism. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “Of course there’s going to be outrage over that because for some reason, people just aren’t ready. I’m like, ‘I don’t know what America you live in, but from what I see when I walk outside my streets of New York right now, I see lots of persity, and I see the real world, and it’s beautiful, and that’s what should be reflected, and that’s what is reflected, so you’re just going to have to get over it.'”

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8. Amandla Stenberg

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When they were cast as Rue in The Hunger Games, many fans were upset – despite the character being described in the book as having “satiny brown skin.” Some people even tweeted that Rue’s death wasn’t as sad because the character wasn’t played by a white actor. Amandla told BuzzFeed News that “there was resistance to having Black girls in films, and that Black women are dehumanized and their lives are seen as less valuable than white lives.”

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“While it was hurtful when I was 12, it wasn’t shocking,” they added. “The irony of the whole situation was that Rue was one of the only characters I could find in the content I loved that was literally written as Black.”

9. Ismael Cruz Córdova

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Since the casting announcement for The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, fans have been upset about people of color in Middle Earth. Ismael, who played Arondir, told Esquire that he received “pure and vicious hate speech” for two years. “I fought so hard for this role for this very reason. I felt that I could carry that torch. I made sure that my elf was the most Elven, the most incredible, because I knew this was coming.”

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“You can never use it as an excuse: ‘But elves don’t look like that.’ They didn’t, but now they do,” he concluded.

10. Tessa Thompson

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When Marvel fans learned that Tessa would be taking on the role of Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, many left racist comments on her social media pages. The actor told Bustle, “There’s definitely an element of it where you go, ‘OK, that’s just racism. Not cool.’ We just do what we do, and we hope that people respond to it, and we ignore the ones that don’t.”

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“It’s important for Marvel to answer the call for inclusion and persity and also to be able to have some freedom with these stories,” she added.

11. Storm Reid

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Storm drew online criticism when fans of A Wrinkle In Time learned she would be starring in the film adaptation. She told InStyle, “Some people had problems with me playing Meg because they’d loved her as a Caucasian girl for so long. They were uncomfortable to have that shift, but the only way to create change in our world is through people willing to be uncomfortable.”

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“When the film came out, little girls would come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for allowing me to see a girl who looks like me save the world.’ That’s when I realized my career was bigger than myself.”

12. Lucy Liu

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Many fans of Sherlock Holmes were upset when Lucy was cast as Joan Watson in Elementary. She told BBC News, “For me, it’s about pushing forward. Playing a role that has been historically a male figure and also something that is obviously lore because it is very English-based. I think for someone who is an Asian American actress playing Watson, that’s something I always like to do — push the envelope.”

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13. Leah Sava Jeffries

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When the cast of Disney’s upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show was announced and fans discovered Leah would be playing Annabeth, online trolls immediately attacked the then-12-year-old. Rick Riordan, the author of the books, wrote a blog post in her defense. “If you have a problem with this casting, however, take it up with me. You have no one else to blame. Whatever else you take from this post, we should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong.”

Image Group La / The Walt Disney Company via Getty Images

“You are judging her appropriateness for this role solely and exclusively on how she looks. She is a Black girl playing someone who was described in the books as white. Friends, that is racism.”

14. And finally, Michael B. Jordan

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The actor received a lot of hate from superhero fans when they learned he’d be playing The Human Torch in the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot. In a response written for Entertainment Weekly, he said, “Sometimes you have to be the person who stands up and says, ‘I’ll be the one to shoulder all this hate. I’ll take the brunt for the next couple of generations.’ I put that responsibility on myself. People are always going to see each other in terms of race, but maybe in the future, we won’t talk about it as much.”

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“Maybe, if I set an example, Hollywood will start considering more people of color in other prominent roles, and maybe we can reach the people who are stuck in the mindset that ‘it has to be true to the comic book.’ Or maybe we have to reach past them,” he concluded.