British actor John Boyega recently criticised “Game Of Thrones” and “The Lord Of The Rings” for its lack of diversity.
In speaking with GQ, the “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” star pointed out that there are no black people in the 2 major franchises. “There are no black people on Game of Thrones. You don’t see one black person in Lord of the Rings,” he shared.
The 25-year-old actor continued, “I ain’t paying money to always see one type of person on-screen. Because you see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day. Even if you’re a racist, you have to live with that. We can ruffle up some feathers.”
While “Game of Thrones” features a few non-white actors with speaking roles (i.e. Nathalie Emmanuel’s Missandei, Jacob Anderson’s Grey Worm, and Jessica Henwick’s Nymeria Sand), “Lord of the Rings” has very few actors of colour in it.
This is not the first time Boyega, whose parents are of Nigerian descent, talked about diversity in pop culture. Apparently, some fans protested the studio for casting him in “Star Wars”.
However, he clapped back at his haters, saying, “I’m in the movie, what are you going to do about it? You either enjoy it or you don’t. I’m not saying get used to the future, but what is already happening. People of colour and women are increasingly being shown on-screen. For things to be whitewashed just doesn’t make sense.”
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Sources: EW, People, News.com.au / Featured image: Variety, Metro.
