For weeks now, I’ve been glancing at the headlines involving the Hellboy reboot and the controversies around it. Since I don’t give a sh-t about Hellboy, I barely did more than skim a few stories here and there. I kept seeing this name, Ed Skrein, and I was like “why are people acting like we should know that name?” I had to look it up – Ed Skrein was Original Daario Naharis in Game of Thrones. He was replaced by Michiel Huisman after one season. I actually prefer Huisman’s Daario. Anyway, Skrein was slated to play Major Ben Daimio in Hellboy, a character who “turns into a jaguar when angered or in pain.” In the original comic, Ben Daimio is an Asian character. Ed Skrein is a white British man. So, there were whitewashing complaints about the film and this character in particular. Now Ed Skrein is withdrawing from the film:

Ed Skrein is saying goodbye to the new Hellboy before it ever began…Days after it was announced that the Deadpool actor would be starring in Lionsgate and Millennium’s Hellboy reboot, the Brit revealed that he’s dropping out of the film after a whitewashing backlash broke out on the Internet following his casting news. Skrein, who also is known for his role in Game of Thrones, was set to play Major Ben Daimio, a member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense who can turn into a jaguar when angered or in pain. In the original Dark Horse comic, Major Daimio was Asian, a fact that Skrein says he did not know.

In the days since the announcement, a huge outcry erupted online over the casting news, many claiming that Hollywood was once again whitewashing a character. Skrein quickly addressed the public’s ire and revealed in a lengthy Twitter post that he was stepping away from the film in hopes of his role going to an actor that better fit the character who is of mixed Asian heritage.

“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 voice in the arts. I feel it is important to honor and respect that. Therefore I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately,” the actor wrote in a statement that he posted earlier today. He added, “Representation of ethnic diversity is important, especially to me as I have a mixed heritage family. It is our responsibility to make moral decisions in difficult times and to give voice to inclusivity. It is my hope that one day these discussions will become less necessary and that we can help make equal representation in the arts a reality…. I am sad to leave Hellboy but if this decision brings us closer to that day, it is all worth it. I hope it makes a difference.”

[From E! News]

See, now I sort of feel bad for this guy. He’s clearly trying to do the right thing and it’s not his fault the studio was looking to whitewash this character. Isn’t this exactly what we want white actors to do? We want them to acknowledge their privilege and use that privilege to promote more diverse casting decisions. Skrein’s withdrawal has actually worked too – the producers of the reboot released a statement saying: “Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.” See? They’ll recast the part with an Asian actor. Good. I mean, this never should have happened in the first place, but I guess Hellboy dude-bros needed a f–king education. And good for Ed Skrein. Here’s his tweet:

pic.twitter.com/8WoSsHXDFO

— Ed Skrein (@edskrein) August 28, 2017

Photos courtesy of WENN.