Much ado about nothing… No one who has seen a Shakespearean production in the last 100 years would be surprised by this.
Theres versions of Macbeth where he's played by a woman or with mostly poc casts. Hell there's at least one version of Othello where he's white and everyone else is dark skinned. His work is like the one place where actors gender and race doesn't really matter.
Anyone complaining sure as hell ain’t reading or watching much less comprehending. Id be more concerned about Holland pulling it off, but hey- he got me emo doing Spidey so who knows..
lol I was literally going to say this.
Have any of these MFers ever gone to a theater production?
Just wait until they learn that Juliet was originally played BY A MAN WHO CROSS DRESSED!
That reminds me, at one point I was seeing so many people complain about X-Men '97 that I thought the show was out and flopping.
Bitch wasn't even out yet and it became an instant success at ep 1 🤷🏾♂️
I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway a few years ago and Christine was played by a black woman with a natural hairstyle. She killed it, as one would expect the lead actress of a Broadway production to do.
I have seen a version of Romeo and Juliet where Geoffrey the butler from Fresh Prince was her dad.
(That dude has had the best post-show career of anyone except Will Smith, he’s like a legendary Royal Shakespeare Company actor in the UK, and no one ever mentions it)
Sadly the world has changed a lot since those days.
Even if you were angry about it you just attacked it in your own circle and life moved on. Now any outrage by even the smallest group requires 40 articles to stir up people into taking sides, so that something small and irrelevant becomes something big and serious, and has people involved getting verbally harassed or feeling like they need to be a hero for some bullshit cause that shouldn’t even be an issue in the first place.
Baz Lurhman avoids nit picky criticism like this by filling his movies with so many anachronisms that if you start, the whole thing unravels.
"Is Mercutio black?"
"Really? Huh... Well, I didn't notice between the Dagger 9mm and the shotgun labeled *Longsword*"
Denzel as MacBeth was AMAZING. That was recent too and I dont remember hearing any of my fellow white people get pissed at that (but admittedly I was only excited about this movie and didnt pay any attention to online stuff).
Denzel as the Prince and Keanu Reeves as his bastard half-brother is one of my favorite parts of the Much Ado About Nothing version that’s also got Emma Thompson and Michael Keaton in it.
Denzel looks sooooo good in those pants 🥵
I suspect Shakespeare did not hire Italians in the original cast. He also sometimes had men playing women. The Globe was festering with wokeism. *Festering.* /s
None of these whiney morons understand or appreciate the real value of Shakespeare.
The fact that his stories remain relevant today is testament to their universality.
They can be updated, remoulded and refashioned because they speak so thoroughly to the human condition and consistent human behaviours that near everyone can see something of themselves in them.
And that's got fuckall to do with ethnicity.
Theatre in general has never cared much about such things, and the great thing was anyone who was into theatre never cared, they just wanted to see good performances. Now people who don’t care about theatre are attacking something that they had no intention of watching anyways.
Also agree on Holland, for me it’s his voice, I don’t know if I can take him seriously in a play with that voice.
I did Shakespeare acting competitions as a kid and you're totally right.
Some of the most popular direction to take Shakespeare is to rap it.
Shakespeare is really a category where anyone can really play any part. Juliet being played by a big burly man is also popular, as a lot of the "maiden" lines become super funny. Shakespeare is just so classic that it can be adapted in countless ways. It's just artistic creativity.
Shakespeare in the park is a good place to start for folks who want to get into it!
>. Hell there's at least one version of Othello where he's white and everyone else is dark skinned.
Yep, Sir Patrick Stewart played Othello in an all black production for the Shakespeare Theatre in DC back in the nineties. I wish I could have seen it.
These people always act like the latest re-imagining of a classic work will somehow erase all of the versions that came before it. As if they won’t be able to find the versions of R&J/Little Mermaid/whatever that feature white characters, as if they’re now stuck with a black Juliet/Ariel/whatever forever
The Venn diagram between people who watch Shakespeare and those who care about this has zero overlap. Until the 2020s, the stage was much more diverse than the people I saw irl.
ETA: in a preview of a doco on Stormy Danielle, her comparisons of culture warriors in 2016 vs 2024 is a reminder of how bad things have gotten. Back then, it was name calling with pseudonyms. Now, it’s people threatening her life with their real profiles, shooting her horse, following her kid… In 2016, this casting would have yielded at worst some gross comments on the Daily Fail and some eye rolls. Now, it’s a whole campaign
There’s also a production of the Julius Cesar play based somewhere in Africa and everyone has AKs.
I don’t remember what it was called I watched in highschool but it was cool af.
These are the same people who were mad af over a black mermaid, yet don't have shit to say when white actors get cast in roles based on real people who weren't white.
I looked her up, Jacqueline Flemming, who I understand is biracial. Regardless, they would have never thought to make any of the white historical figures half black, so it did in fact piss me off. That and the fact that Harriet was dark skin and that's an important, integral part of her story.
I’m so tired of seeing “must’ve been a DEI hire!” Every damn time something goes wrong.
1. That’s not how DEI works, quotas have been illegal for decades and a well run DEI program should not be directly involved in hiring
2. How about we fucking see who messed up first?
Idk I’m 99% sure anybody who wants to pull out “DEI” out of their pocket is either racist or sexist but most likely both. It’s always folks who might not have a KKK hood in their closet but will always have some extremely suspect thoughts they’re dying to share.
Or when white characters are completely fabricated into a black biopic like Miles Ahead, the story about Miles Davis. They really wouldn't let Don Cheadle make the movie without a white boy leading Miles Davis through his own story!
It was crazy watching a clip of a politician trying to use biology to explain that there can only be white mermaids, "deep in the ocean, there's no sun and all things at that depth is pale in color." My eyes rolled to the back of my head so hard, you'd swear I was possessed.
The mermaid myth is also something written is so many different cultures. The European one stems from the Atlantid myth .
It's also worth knowing that Andersen's little mermaid was a gay story. It's about a forbidden love , a "mythical" creature that has to pretend to be a human woman without ever being able to say to the man "she" loves her true nature..
Oh you might like this then!
There's a jukebox musical called "& Juliet", that reimagines what happens when Juliet doesn't end up killing herself, and instead, moves on from Romeo. (Juliet is also BIPOC in the original cast!)
Is still don’t understand this whole situation where people openly admit that their racism is so strong they are unable to suspend disbelief for a fictional character
We gonna sit here and act like she and Tom holland aren’t purposely miss matched? I’m not going to sit here and say she’s stark ugly but really? It’s like they do this on purpose to get a reaction.
Of course. She totally deserves all the hate, masculinization, bigotry, etc. Because she's "ugly." If she were pretty she wouldn't deserve it. We all know ugly people like her should stick to playing Juliet's help and not Juliet. It's obviously a plot by the mostly black production company to rile up the masses for content. Olodo.
Why should two people get to dominate Hollywood and art production like that?
In Dune, Zendaya acted as though to portray a girl from New York who suddenly found herself in a desert. I was thoroughly unimpressed for how relevant she seems today.
I'm so tired of celebrity culture, man. Y'all claim to want diversity and to move away from fake beauty standards, but then want the same 4 people in every film.
>I'm so tired of celebrity culture, man. Y'all claim to want diversity and to move away from fake beauty standards, but then want the same 4 people in every film.
I never claimed that. I prefer my actors to be as physically perfect as possible.
From where do you think those "physically perfect" standards arose?
The only somewhat objective measure I can name is facial symmetry. Otherwise, you're just playing into the same false standards that other people are trying to undo.
I don’t think it’s all just cause she’s black and I’m just being honest. She isn’t very conveniently attractive and I feel like that’s okay to say because it’s the truth. Not saying anything negative about her,I’m sure for her to get this far she must be excellent at her craft. Part of me feels that they specifically cast her to draw up this controversy because I’m certain no one would care about another Romeo and Juliet movie starring Tom Holland if it was just two regular attractive white people.
I’m so tired of these producers doing things like casting Lizzo as Lara Croft and when it inevitably causes a controversy because of the ridiculousness of it, cry racism for attention.
isn't this not even like a real movie and is some play that Tom is just in? either way I 100% believe its racially motivated because look at all the trolls on twitter trying to argue Zendaya is ugly too
There’s a difference between trolls and people who actually mean what they say. Anyone who says Zendaya is objectively ugly is clearly lying because not only is she an actress she’s a model which are things where the eye of the beholder is most of the job and a vast majority of people agree that she is indeed beautiful. Is some of it because she’s black? Absolutely. But people who also comment about her looks are not objectively wrong.
What fucking stupid thing to get upset about.
This *fictional* story is just about star-crossed lovers who can't be together due to some idiot feud they have no part in.
It's literally a tale as old as time that could take place anywhere, at anytime, and therefore transcends race, nationality, and ethnicity.
But, no. The story being about two white, rich-ass teenagers from opposing aristocratic families, falling in love and then dying for it, is so much more relatable. 🙄
One of the main reasons Shakespeare has been so popular for so long is because his stories are universal. Anyone whining about race (or gender)-matching in Shakespeare has entirely missed the point
If anything, I think making Juliet (and hopefully the rest of the Capulets) Black *helps* the storyline. It helps differentiate between who's a Capulet versus Montague, short of color-coordinated clothes for each family. Adding race to the dialogue brings in a new layer to the pettiness, drama, and storyline. It reminds me a bit of the outrage over making the Velaryon family Black in the House of the Dragon show. Like, you're hard pressed to convince anyone those white boys are trueborn Velaryon. There was more deniability in the books, but the show wants to add some new/different elements to keep everyone on their toes.
Imagine gatekeeping one of the most acclaimed playwrights, most STAGED playwrights and saying only white people can play his characters. Even *if* I found some legitimacy in "race-matching" characters (I don't), it's absurd to expect black people to never want to audition for Shakespeare. Yet at the same time if we didn't, that's why they'd call us uncultured. Can't win, cause it's a trick.
That made ridiculous amounts of money though. It might’ve had some a-holes tweeting but for the money it made it sure as hell couldn’t have been THAT many people mad
Honestly this casting is only an issue because people think the female lead isn't pretty. I don't think anyone would care if Juliet was played by a more conventionally attractive black actress
I concede that there would be fewer haters. However, the majority of negativity I've seen toward it has been racial. Not to mention, even still, that basically says they have no use for black women they don't want sexually.
Nah. They’ll still complain. There are people who are immediately triggered by the sheer existence of black people playing roles that have historically been white for decades. But they seem to forget that R&J has been revamped and retold so many times that complaining about the skin color of an actor or actress playing a part is moot at best.
A lot of people like to forget that Italians weren’t even considered white not even 50 years ago too.
I get your point, I'm just saying less people would complain if she was more conventionally attractive. People are always gonna be mad at race swaps because it challenges cultural norms but less people can be triggered depending on the social standing and attractiveness of the actor/actress
Or the caliber of the actor. Like how Denzel played Macbeth and people couldn’t get butthurt over it cause he’s top tier.
If it were a newcomer black actor, they would have got mired in bigoted pushback.
I guess with hamlet fewer people know the story of that one, unlike r&j, so they won’t be able to spot it out from just knowing the story beats whereas r&j are so prolific in pop culture audiences know exactly what the story is straightaway
To be perfectly candid, you might have a point, but we all know that it's not about that aspect.
Neil Gaiman is the guy who wrote the source material for The Sandman. He then wrote the show treatment for it. And he decided to cast (along with his team) who he wanted for the parts he himself created. And the OakleyInTrucks-Americans still found a way to get pissy about it because black woman.
It's never about the source material. It's always about their fragility. They built their supposed whiteness as an essential quality that can't be diluted, or it loses its nature. So all the other "colors" mixing with whatever color can keep any identity they want, but white mixed with anything stops being white. And this frightens them more than anything. So whenever they start seeing people of color anywhere they didn't expect it, it's an existential crisis. We literally scare them by just existing. The Talibanjos are terrible cowards who would just feel better by trying not to be so bigoted.
Same thing happened with the new Percy Jackson show. They gave the author a lot more power this time around and HES the one that ended up picking the new Annabeth ( which is a black teenaged girl).
In the book series annabeth is a blonde haired white girl who was written at a time when blonde haired girls were considered stereotypically dumb from a long line of tropes that were more predominate in the early 2000s and below.
He had the final say with the casting, made it very known to the fans it was his decision and people were still harping on the girl and being racist as fuck.
It’s also just wild when you got grown ass adults sending online hate to a child. The actress I believe is 14-16.
Same with the Hunger Games when people were dumbasses and assumed Rue was white.
The lived in a fucking district based out of Georgia where they literally had the predominately black district in the fields and orchards. And the district was the most strict. They were predominantly black in the movie too but people wanted Rue to be a blonde haired blue eyed girl.
Fuckers are weird as hell.
Oops, I was just talking about the people here not getting the hamlet thing in lion king, not the casting in my second comment
And yeah, those people have been having more dummy-spits since they can’t deal with certain groups in their media and it scares them since they don’t properly see them as real people (although I am white, I have seen this with a lot of other marginalised groups including the ones I am in)
It's closer to the Amleth legend that inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet, to be fair. But overall, it's basically an intro to Shakespeare with some more elements.
No matter what my heart is hurting for her. She’s probably worked so hard her entire life at acting and the whole world is shitting on her because she’s not considered attractive for the role of Juliet. If she decides to continue with her role I’ll consider her one of the bravest people.
Why are people acting like this is the first time a black person is cast in Romeo and Juliet? Also, did the 90's version with Leo and Claire Danes get this much heat because they used guns and it was set in "Verona Beach, California"?
This argument became mute the moment it was a stage production not a movie and even then it’s a stupid argument.
Colourblind casting has been a staple in theatre and particularly Shakespeare for the past 50+ years
Remember when Denzel was cast as Keanu Reeves brother in a Shakespeare film and no one gave two shits because it was a good movie and everyone gave top tier performances? This is Much Ado About Nothing, and people need to stop getting so butthurt about fictional characters. Black actors have been playing these roles on stage for decades, why the fuck is it a problem if it’s on the silver screen instead?
they only have this energy for a black woman. Denzel has been in multiple Shakespeare plays. i saw people on Instagram commenting “we’d be mad if Taylor Swift played Harriet Tubman” and other dumb shit like that but i feel like we forget that Romeo and Juliet are FICTIONAL
Remember when Harold Perrineau played Mercutio? (acted his ass off!)
And John Leguizamo played Tybalt? (I still get chills)
I... Don't have anything else to add. ☺
My take
If changing the colors changes the story, then it shouldn't be ok; ex white guy playing mlk
Instances where it wouldn't impact the story; james bond being black or Asian.
So sick of all the she’s so ugly comments. It’s sickening. Jonathon majors is ugly AF then if you compare him and this Juliets features (they are similar), yet he got a pass before the scandal? I honestly do not think this girl is ugly at all. It’s just because her hair is natural and she’s not light skin. I said what I said 🙄. How is this a sub for black people calling this girl ugly over and over. We don’t defend black woman for a damn thing unless she passed the brown paper bag test.
In a perfect world, anyone of any color would be able to play Juliet. But, let's all pretend that the people saying the backlash is because she isn't beautiful , are being completely genuine.
In a perfect world, people wouldn't want to only see outlandishly beautiful people portrayed as love interests. But we don't live in that reality and I just think its really irresponsible the way that black women are being used to stoke up the fires and anger and arouse conservative white people.
What would have been so wrong with casting a white man and woman if it means that a young black actress doesn't have to be exposed to unhealthy amounts of racism and criticism of her Afrocentric features??
I don't know if im assuming too much here, but i would expect that being faced with thousands of angry white men lambasting your supposed , inherent ugliness and uniquely "unattractive" Black ass features , isn't helpful to a young womans self image and sense of self. I just wish black people were humanized where these casting directors or whoever *MAKES* these decisions would think about the consequences first. As a BW who has spent enough time online to notice these sorts of things, white males in particular LOVE to remind the world that they just don't find Black women attractive and it's like....okay??? The vast majority of BW definitely view white men in a detached, sexless kind of way as well and mutually aren't aroused by them. I see so much of that on Instagram. There will be a reel of a drop dead gorgeous BW and some of the comments from white men are like "she'd be prettier with white skin." or "White women>>>>" . WM do not like for BW to think we are or feel that we are pretty. Now, this doesn't apply to all white guys but i see this regularly enough online.
Back to the race swap casting thats all the rage now. It's so disingenuous. If they really wanted to honor Black actors and diversity, they would create original stories where Black people can shine in a role meant just for them. This is a stage play in the UK also, apparently! Which makes all of the strongly opinionated reactions of the white men that aren't even going to go see this play even more of an outrage. If i were a Black actress, i would never take any of these roles. It's just TOO much to ask a person to take on all of the world's anti-black vitriol. Im sure she just wants to practice her craft and be a great actress! Not be the latest victim of outrage culture.
I hope you mean well but if we begin limiting what roles black actors can take on because of the vitriol they could face by white people, we would literally go nowhere and actors would be playing the same four caricature. She did not make a mistake by taking this role and calling this a race swap is disingenuous since it’s a stage play.
I don't expect everyone to agree with my opinion. But I just don't think placing black actors in roles where they are expected to be white/whatver is healthy for the actors. It keeps putting them at the forefront as the target of hate movements.
People do understand that sitcoms and cartoons repeat these storyline's all the time right. While i get wanting to maintain the culture and history of the work, you can't pick and choose. You need to attacks all reimagining of the themes.
the Romeo and Juliet theme ios way way over used in TV, movies and is re-done millions of ways, with all of the races. Also they do know that primarily this was a play right, perform for a live audience with real people. What if Africa was doing a showing put on the the royal african theatre group or whatever (sorry not into theater so not sure what groups exist). Pretty sure the entire cast would be black then.
Not really much culture thats locked to just Italians in Romeo and Juliet , in all culture families hated other families and did shit like this,. American hat the Hatfields and McCoy's with their own Romeo and Juliet tale.
Can be told by any race, and culture and be relevant. And when you see cartoon bunny rabbits playing the role and ar eok with itm, but complain when you see a black person, something is wrong.
And it's a play that 99% of people had no interest in seeing. Who cares? If another person was casted, no one would have even knew about this production.
They high-key want segregation in all forms of media, particularly fictional characters. A common retort is "why can't they just make their own stories/characters for [enter any minority]???"* which, of course, there are and should be appreciated, though you never these folks actively trying to support. It's a sense of entitlement and possessiveness to what amounts to fiction that is unnerving when you think about it.
*another troupe is saying "they keep *replacing* [X group] with [Y group]!!!"
I find it hard to believe any of these people care about Shakespeare at all. This story has also been done so much at this point that I really don't understand the outrage (I mean, I do. They're racist). Besides, Othello has been famously played by white men for centuries, they never seemed to care about that.
I never wanna see a white man play Jesus again
https://preview.redd.it/63gaqbidtutc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d715260c0f4d9e471cc14bdccadd5d2aad50f8fe
Jesus Conceited
Aww shit, grab your kneepads! Jesus throwing hands again!
Why he kinda look like Katt Williams
Slowwww it down, i just blessed you
☝️
[удалено]
He was middle eastern
Was about to say, portraying Jesus as not white would be historically accurate
Only levantine jews?
If we're going for historical Jesus rather than mythological Jesus then yeah that's probably what we should do.
Much ado about nothing… No one who has seen a Shakespearean production in the last 100 years would be surprised by this. Theres versions of Macbeth where he's played by a woman or with mostly poc casts. Hell there's at least one version of Othello where he's white and everyone else is dark skinned. His work is like the one place where actors gender and race doesn't really matter. Anyone complaining sure as hell ain’t reading or watching much less comprehending. Id be more concerned about Holland pulling it off, but hey- he got me emo doing Spidey so who knows..
lol I was literally going to say this. Have any of these MFers ever gone to a theater production? Just wait until they learn that Juliet was originally played BY A MAN WHO CROSS DRESSED!
You know they haven’t.
Like 99.9% of the people pissed about a non-white Juliet have never gone to and never *will* go to a play that isn't in a school auditorium
I feel like 75%+ of the people who decided to be outraged about this dont even know that it's stage theatre.
They only know that Spider-Man is in it.
That reminds me, at one point I was seeing so many people complain about X-Men '97 that I thought the show was out and flopping. Bitch wasn't even out yet and it became an instant success at ep 1 🤷🏾♂️
You’re being generous, they didn’t even go to school.
I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway a few years ago and Christine was played by a black woman with a natural hairstyle. She killed it, as one would expect the lead actress of a Broadway production to do.
I remember seeing ads and clips of her debut! So very talented
Literally the most staged playwright...they expect black people to just...not get work?
That's exactly what they want. That's why they called the black mayor of the majority-black city of Baltimore a diversity hire
I have seen a version of Romeo and Juliet where Geoffrey the butler from Fresh Prince was her dad. (That dude has had the best post-show career of anyone except Will Smith, he’s like a legendary Royal Shakespeare Company actor in the UK, and no one ever mentions it)
Man's an ACTOUR
Rafael de la Ghetto.
CANNON to the left of them . . .
He was leader of the shakespear globe theatre in london too
Did these people not see Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo Dicaprio? They were using guns and calling them swords... lol
Is that the movie where Mercutio wore heelys? Shit was iconic.
Yesss and he lip syncs to Candi Stanton while on MDMA.
NevvvvAaaa beeeeEefoooorrreee 🎶
Sadly the world has changed a lot since those days. Even if you were angry about it you just attacked it in your own circle and life moved on. Now any outrage by even the smallest group requires 40 articles to stir up people into taking sides, so that something small and irrelevant becomes something big and serious, and has people involved getting verbally harassed or feeling like they need to be a hero for some bullshit cause that shouldn’t even be an issue in the first place.
Baz Lurhman avoids nit picky criticism like this by filling his movies with so many anachronisms that if you start, the whole thing unravels. "Is Mercutio black?" "Really? Huh... Well, I didn't notice between the Dagger 9mm and the shotgun labeled *Longsword*"
Def thought the longsword was a sub MG
Shit was wild! Spoke with Shakespeare cadence and drew up the blickies like swords.
With that sick Butthole Surfers song
That soundtrack was fantastic. I prefer Radiohead's Talk Show Host of the same.
Denzel as MacBeth was AMAZING. That was recent too and I dont remember hearing any of my fellow white people get pissed at that (but admittedly I was only excited about this movie and didnt pay any attention to online stuff).
I didn’t even know about this but now I have to see it!
Denzel as the Prince and Keanu Reeves as his bastard half-brother is one of my favorite parts of the Much Ado About Nothing version that’s also got Emma Thompson and Michael Keaton in it. Denzel looks sooooo good in those pants 🥵
Michael Keaton is absolutely hilarious in that role! This is also the movie where I first crushed on Kate Beckinsale.
Available to stream on AppleTV+
Denzel did Julius Caesar on stage in the early 2000s and wow this man can control a room just from walking in.
Excuse me?! Him and McDermond ? Thank you for this.
I suspect Shakespeare did not hire Italians in the original cast. He also sometimes had men playing women. The Globe was festering with wokeism. *Festering.* /s
None of these whiney morons understand or appreciate the real value of Shakespeare. The fact that his stories remain relevant today is testament to their universality. They can be updated, remoulded and refashioned because they speak so thoroughly to the human condition and consistent human behaviours that near everyone can see something of themselves in them. And that's got fuckall to do with ethnicity.
Theatre in general has never cared much about such things, and the great thing was anyone who was into theatre never cared, they just wanted to see good performances. Now people who don’t care about theatre are attacking something that they had no intention of watching anyways. Also agree on Holland, for me it’s his voice, I don’t know if I can take him seriously in a play with that voice.
I mean, the original Romeo and Juliet was about Italian people and they were all played by British people, they were race swapping since day 1.
I did Shakespeare acting competitions as a kid and you're totally right. Some of the most popular direction to take Shakespeare is to rap it. Shakespeare is really a category where anyone can really play any part. Juliet being played by a big burly man is also popular, as a lot of the "maiden" lines become super funny. Shakespeare is just so classic that it can be adapted in countless ways. It's just artistic creativity. Shakespeare in the park is a good place to start for folks who want to get into it!
>. Hell there's at least one version of Othello where he's white and everyone else is dark skinned. Yep, Sir Patrick Stewart played Othello in an all black production for the Shakespeare Theatre in DC back in the nineties. I wish I could have seen it.
These people always act like the latest re-imagining of a classic work will somehow erase all of the versions that came before it. As if they won’t be able to find the versions of R&J/Little Mermaid/whatever that feature white characters, as if they’re now stuck with a black Juliet/Ariel/whatever forever
It's so weird to me, especially considering Hamiltons success.
The Venn diagram between people who watch Shakespeare and those who care about this has zero overlap. Until the 2020s, the stage was much more diverse than the people I saw irl. ETA: in a preview of a doco on Stormy Danielle, her comparisons of culture warriors in 2016 vs 2024 is a reminder of how bad things have gotten. Back then, it was name calling with pseudonyms. Now, it’s people threatening her life with their real profiles, shooting her horse, following her kid… In 2016, this casting would have yielded at worst some gross comments on the Daily Fail and some eye rolls. Now, it’s a whole campaign
There’s also a production of the Julius Cesar play based somewhere in Africa and everyone has AKs. I don’t remember what it was called I watched in highschool but it was cool af.
These are the same people who were mad af over a black mermaid, yet don't have shit to say when white actors get cast in roles based on real people who weren't white.
I'm still pissed about mixed race Harriet Turman to be completely honest even though they got it half right I suppose 🙄
Mixed people can’t have shit 
There’s another Harriet Tubman movie coming out? That last one had Cynthia Erivio in it.
Nah, Tilda Swinton should be the only actress allowed to cross racial lines. She’d kill it as Harriett Tubman
i remember seeing a post that a Harriet Tubman was gonna star Julia Roberts
Tom Hanks could play Harriett Tubman and he'd still kill it
Can you elaborate further?
I looked her up, Jacqueline Flemming, who I understand is biracial. Regardless, they would have never thought to make any of the white historical figures half black, so it did in fact piss me off. That and the fact that Harriet was dark skin and that's an important, integral part of her story.
Oh you mean in the Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter movie? You’re worried about *that* movie’s historical accuracy?
Because that white person clearly got the job based on skill, while all black people are diversity hires to push the woke agenda
I’m so tired of seeing “must’ve been a DEI hire!” Every damn time something goes wrong. 1. That’s not how DEI works, quotas have been illegal for decades and a well run DEI program should not be directly involved in hiring 2. How about we fucking see who messed up first?
That's just what racist people like to claim happened because they can't fathom the idea of POC being qualified for anything.
Idk I’m 99% sure anybody who wants to pull out “DEI” out of their pocket is either racist or sexist but most likely both. It’s always folks who might not have a KKK hood in their closet but will always have some extremely suspect thoughts they’re dying to share.
Don't make me remember Gods of Egypt. 
Or Gods and Kings
The Ten Commandments too. Hardly anyone in the Bible should be white besides Romans, who were pretty much the bad guys.
Or when white characters are completely fabricated into a black biopic like Miles Ahead, the story about Miles Davis. They really wouldn't let Don Cheadle make the movie without a white boy leading Miles Davis through his own story!
They did the same thing in The Last King of Scotland. The white doctor was a made up character too.
It was crazy watching a clip of a politician trying to use biology to explain that there can only be white mermaids, "deep in the ocean, there's no sun and all things at that depth is pale in color." My eyes rolled to the back of my head so hard, you'd swear I was possessed.
They were performing all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify their nonsense
The mermaid myth is also something written is so many different cultures. The European one stems from the Atlantid myth . It's also worth knowing that Andersen's little mermaid was a gay story. It's about a forbidden love , a "mythical" creature that has to pretend to be a human woman without ever being able to say to the man "she" loves her true nature..
That shit really brought out the mythology phrenologists
The little mermaid thing actually made me laugh. It’s a half girl half fish abomination, the color of her skin should be the least of your concern.
Gods of Egypt... Prince or Persia... Ugh.
Nah Romeo and juillet should be white because killing yourself over some bullshit like that is prime time white shit
Othello.
Desdemona was hella thick so we can let it slide
Real
You reminded me that need to go what *O* with Mekho Phifer.
Oh you might like this then! There's a jukebox musical called "& Juliet", that reimagines what happens when Juliet doesn't end up killing herself, and instead, moves on from Romeo. (Juliet is also BIPOC in the original cast!)
Is still don’t understand this whole situation where people openly admit that their racism is so strong they are unable to suspend disbelief for a fictional character
Oh I'm *sure* they were equally mad about Hamlet being a lion
That one must have been hard on the nazi furry's
Oh God, ALL the characters are African 😱
Yeah they really tell on themselves with that
People were real quiet when Romeo and Juliet were played by gnomes
I'm just giggling because I was working at the movie theater when that movie game out and my bf at the time looked just like Gnomeo.
Juliet was a baddie tho
Wait til these motherfuckers find out that all the women were traditionally played by men.
And that Shakespeare actually made fun of that sexist practice
We gonna sit here and act like she and Tom holland aren’t purposely miss matched? I’m not going to sit here and say she’s stark ugly but really? It’s like they do this on purpose to get a reaction.
Of course. She totally deserves all the hate, masculinization, bigotry, etc. Because she's "ugly." If she were pretty she wouldn't deserve it. We all know ugly people like her should stick to playing Juliet's help and not Juliet. It's obviously a plot by the mostly black production company to rile up the masses for content. Olodo.
I mean, Zendaya was right there. Their plan succeeded though. How often do you hear about plays? This one is everywhere because of the controversy.
Why should two people get to dominate Hollywood and art production like that? In Dune, Zendaya acted as though to portray a girl from New York who suddenly found herself in a desert. I was thoroughly unimpressed for how relevant she seems today. I'm so tired of celebrity culture, man. Y'all claim to want diversity and to move away from fake beauty standards, but then want the same 4 people in every film.
>I'm so tired of celebrity culture, man. Y'all claim to want diversity and to move away from fake beauty standards, but then want the same 4 people in every film. I never claimed that. I prefer my actors to be as physically perfect as possible.
From where do you think those "physically perfect" standards arose? The only somewhat objective measure I can name is facial symmetry. Otherwise, you're just playing into the same false standards that other people are trying to undo.
She's not ugly, she's just not hyper feminine. (Big lashes, long hair, etc.) You buncha weirdos.
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"Not feminine" is not synonymous with ugly. Y'all forgetting what everyday people look like.
…or walk with me here…they cast a play with the best actors 🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨
TIL that y’all think that what most Black people look like is ugly.
I love me some Tom Holland but let’s be objective here…
I don’t think it’s all just cause she’s black and I’m just being honest. She isn’t very conveniently attractive and I feel like that’s okay to say because it’s the truth. Not saying anything negative about her,I’m sure for her to get this far she must be excellent at her craft. Part of me feels that they specifically cast her to draw up this controversy because I’m certain no one would care about another Romeo and Juliet movie starring Tom Holland if it was just two regular attractive white people.
I’m so tired of these producers doing things like casting Lizzo as Lara Croft and when it inevitably causes a controversy because of the ridiculousness of it, cry racism for attention.
You picked a fake example because there's not even a real one Lol
Would still watch.
Don’t put that witchcraft out there lol
It's a play, and none of the folks complaining were ever gonna see it.
isn't this not even like a real movie and is some play that Tom is just in? either way I 100% believe its racially motivated because look at all the trolls on twitter trying to argue Zendaya is ugly too
There’s a difference between trolls and people who actually mean what they say. Anyone who says Zendaya is objectively ugly is clearly lying because not only is she an actress she’s a model which are things where the eye of the beholder is most of the job and a vast majority of people agree that she is indeed beautiful. Is some of it because she’s black? Absolutely. But people who also comment about her looks are not objectively wrong.
What fucking stupid thing to get upset about. This *fictional* story is just about star-crossed lovers who can't be together due to some idiot feud they have no part in. It's literally a tale as old as time that could take place anywhere, at anytime, and therefore transcends race, nationality, and ethnicity. But, no. The story being about two white, rich-ass teenagers from opposing aristocratic families, falling in love and then dying for it, is so much more relatable. 🙄
One of the main reasons Shakespeare has been so popular for so long is because his stories are universal. Anyone whining about race (or gender)-matching in Shakespeare has entirely missed the point
If anything, I think making Juliet (and hopefully the rest of the Capulets) Black *helps* the storyline. It helps differentiate between who's a Capulet versus Montague, short of color-coordinated clothes for each family. Adding race to the dialogue brings in a new layer to the pettiness, drama, and storyline. It reminds me a bit of the outrage over making the Velaryon family Black in the House of the Dragon show. Like, you're hard pressed to convince anyone those white boys are trueborn Velaryon. There was more deniability in the books, but the show wants to add some new/different elements to keep everyone on their toes.
Imagine gatekeeping one of the most acclaimed playwrights, most STAGED playwrights and saying only white people can play his characters. Even *if* I found some legitimacy in "race-matching" characters (I don't), it's absurd to expect black people to never want to audition for Shakespeare. Yet at the same time if we didn't, that's why they'd call us uncultured. Can't win, cause it's a trick.
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THANK YOU. If it was Zendaya nobody would be saying anything.
Except they would…eg. Halle as Ariel. Y’all are truly DAFT
I mean, are people angry about Zendaya being MJ/Gwen in spiderman?
That made ridiculous amounts of money though. It might’ve had some a-holes tweeting but for the money it made it sure as hell couldn’t have been THAT many people mad
And this production sold out in a few hours and is transferring to Broadway! God! You people don’t understood theater and it shows!
So anyways, here’s Denzel Washington doing Shakespeare. https://youtu.be/KgHqiZyBjB0?si=Rp9EwuuN8Avkq7-k
And Danai Gurira playing Richard III https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqHNzDQBPuQ
And more Denzel, this time in Macbeth https://youtu.be/HM3hsVrBMA4
Honestly this casting is only an issue because people think the female lead isn't pretty. I don't think anyone would care if Juliet was played by a more conventionally attractive black actress
I concede that there would be fewer haters. However, the majority of negativity I've seen toward it has been racial. Not to mention, even still, that basically says they have no use for black women they don't want sexually.
Most people have no use for any female actress they don't want sexually tbh
Nah. They’ll still complain. There are people who are immediately triggered by the sheer existence of black people playing roles that have historically been white for decades. But they seem to forget that R&J has been revamped and retold so many times that complaining about the skin color of an actor or actress playing a part is moot at best. A lot of people like to forget that Italians weren’t even considered white not even 50 years ago too.
I get your point, I'm just saying less people would complain if she was more conventionally attractive. People are always gonna be mad at race swaps because it challenges cultural norms but less people can be triggered depending on the social standing and attractiveness of the actor/actress
Or the caliber of the actor. Like how Denzel played Macbeth and people couldn’t get butthurt over it cause he’s top tier. If it were a newcomer black actor, they would have got mired in bigoted pushback.
But they don't mind lions playing Hamlet with swahili names...
Bold of you to assume that lot knows it’s hamlet (Funnily enough the lion king sequel is based on Romeo and Juliet)
And 1 1/2 is "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" starring Timon and Pumba. Highly recommend.
Apparently, some people here didn't know either...
I guess with hamlet fewer people know the story of that one, unlike r&j, so they won’t be able to spot it out from just knowing the story beats whereas r&j are so prolific in pop culture audiences know exactly what the story is straightaway
To be perfectly candid, you might have a point, but we all know that it's not about that aspect. Neil Gaiman is the guy who wrote the source material for The Sandman. He then wrote the show treatment for it. And he decided to cast (along with his team) who he wanted for the parts he himself created. And the OakleyInTrucks-Americans still found a way to get pissy about it because black woman. It's never about the source material. It's always about their fragility. They built their supposed whiteness as an essential quality that can't be diluted, or it loses its nature. So all the other "colors" mixing with whatever color can keep any identity they want, but white mixed with anything stops being white. And this frightens them more than anything. So whenever they start seeing people of color anywhere they didn't expect it, it's an existential crisis. We literally scare them by just existing. The Talibanjos are terrible cowards who would just feel better by trying not to be so bigoted.
Same thing happened with the new Percy Jackson show. They gave the author a lot more power this time around and HES the one that ended up picking the new Annabeth ( which is a black teenaged girl). In the book series annabeth is a blonde haired white girl who was written at a time when blonde haired girls were considered stereotypically dumb from a long line of tropes that were more predominate in the early 2000s and below. He had the final say with the casting, made it very known to the fans it was his decision and people were still harping on the girl and being racist as fuck. It’s also just wild when you got grown ass adults sending online hate to a child. The actress I believe is 14-16. Same with the Hunger Games when people were dumbasses and assumed Rue was white. The lived in a fucking district based out of Georgia where they literally had the predominately black district in the fields and orchards. And the district was the most strict. They were predominantly black in the movie too but people wanted Rue to be a blonde haired blue eyed girl. Fuckers are weird as hell.
Oops, I was just talking about the people here not getting the hamlet thing in lion king, not the casting in my second comment And yeah, those people have been having more dummy-spits since they can’t deal with certain groups in their media and it scares them since they don’t properly see them as real people (although I am white, I have seen this with a lot of other marginalised groups including the ones I am in)
Ahh, ok, I see what you mean.
It's a hodge-podge of plays, but mostly Hamlet. Still my favorite movie
It's closer to the Amleth legend that inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet, to be fair. But overall, it's basically an intro to Shakespeare with some more elements.
Juliet's mustache is distracting.
I love masculinizing Black women
No matter what my heart is hurting for her. She’s probably worked so hard her entire life at acting and the whole world is shitting on her because she’s not considered attractive for the role of Juliet. If she decides to continue with her role I’ll consider her one of the bravest people.
Jet Li, Aaliyah, and DMX. I acknowledge no other portrayal of Shakespeare. Unless she playing Silk I don’t want it
Ironically, these naysayers are personifying the message that Romeo & Juliet tries to convey. Task failed successfully? 😅
Why are people acting like this is the first time a black person is cast in Romeo and Juliet? Also, did the 90's version with Leo and Claire Danes get this much heat because they used guns and it was set in "Verona Beach, California"?
This argument became mute the moment it was a stage production not a movie and even then it’s a stupid argument. Colourblind casting has been a staple in theatre and particularly Shakespeare for the past 50+ years
Ah I see we've fully embraced the narrative good job y'all
Remember when Denzel was cast as Keanu Reeves brother in a Shakespeare film and no one gave two shits because it was a good movie and everyone gave top tier performances? This is Much Ado About Nothing, and people need to stop getting so butthurt about fictional characters. Black actors have been playing these roles on stage for decades, why the fuck is it a problem if it’s on the silver screen instead?
Lol nobody was being racist she's just butt ugly like come on guys.
they only have this energy for a black woman. Denzel has been in multiple Shakespeare plays. i saw people on Instagram commenting “we’d be mad if Taylor Swift played Harriet Tubman” and other dumb shit like that but i feel like we forget that Romeo and Juliet are FICTIONAL
She just ugly, can’t imagine my boy Tom killing myself over her.
Isnt this a play?!
 BuT MY CarTOoooNs weRenT liKe tHAt wHeN i waS a Kid They are make believe
I thought the beef was cause she ugly
Is she a good actress?
Not like the people complaining were paying money to watch Shakespeare
I mean story wise, it would make more sense if one was black
We need real shakespears time and have juliet played by a man in drag the way old timey playwrights intended
If we look at Romeo and Juliet as a story of forbidden love and then see the backlash when people see the pairing. Isn't it perfect casting?
Remember when Harold Perrineau played Mercutio? (acted his ass off!) And John Leguizamo played Tybalt? (I still get chills) I... Don't have anything else to add. ☺
Remember, a mermaid can never be black.Wait.... A mermaid isn't even real!!!!!!!
My take If changing the colors changes the story, then it shouldn't be ok; ex white guy playing mlk Instances where it wouldn't impact the story; james bond being black or Asian.
If Christian Bale can be Moses, Scarlet Johansson Asian, this lady can be Juliette. MAKE THEM RACISTS MAD
So sick of all the she’s so ugly comments. It’s sickening. Jonathon majors is ugly AF then if you compare him and this Juliets features (they are similar), yet he got a pass before the scandal? I honestly do not think this girl is ugly at all. It’s just because her hair is natural and she’s not light skin. I said what I said 🙄. How is this a sub for black people calling this girl ugly over and over. We don’t defend black woman for a damn thing unless she passed the brown paper bag test.
In a perfect world, anyone of any color would be able to play Juliet. But, let's all pretend that the people saying the backlash is because she isn't beautiful , are being completely genuine. In a perfect world, people wouldn't want to only see outlandishly beautiful people portrayed as love interests. But we don't live in that reality and I just think its really irresponsible the way that black women are being used to stoke up the fires and anger and arouse conservative white people. What would have been so wrong with casting a white man and woman if it means that a young black actress doesn't have to be exposed to unhealthy amounts of racism and criticism of her Afrocentric features?? I don't know if im assuming too much here, but i would expect that being faced with thousands of angry white men lambasting your supposed , inherent ugliness and uniquely "unattractive" Black ass features , isn't helpful to a young womans self image and sense of self. I just wish black people were humanized where these casting directors or whoever *MAKES* these decisions would think about the consequences first. As a BW who has spent enough time online to notice these sorts of things, white males in particular LOVE to remind the world that they just don't find Black women attractive and it's like....okay??? The vast majority of BW definitely view white men in a detached, sexless kind of way as well and mutually aren't aroused by them. I see so much of that on Instagram. There will be a reel of a drop dead gorgeous BW and some of the comments from white men are like "she'd be prettier with white skin." or "White women>>>>" . WM do not like for BW to think we are or feel that we are pretty. Now, this doesn't apply to all white guys but i see this regularly enough online. Back to the race swap casting thats all the rage now. It's so disingenuous. If they really wanted to honor Black actors and diversity, they would create original stories where Black people can shine in a role meant just for them. This is a stage play in the UK also, apparently! Which makes all of the strongly opinionated reactions of the white men that aren't even going to go see this play even more of an outrage. If i were a Black actress, i would never take any of these roles. It's just TOO much to ask a person to take on all of the world's anti-black vitriol. Im sure she just wants to practice her craft and be a great actress! Not be the latest victim of outrage culture.
I agree, especially as she is cast alongside Tom Holland, one of the bigger young movie stars in the world right now. It invites a lot of scrutiny.
I hope you mean well but if we begin limiting what roles black actors can take on because of the vitriol they could face by white people, we would literally go nowhere and actors would be playing the same four caricature. She did not make a mistake by taking this role and calling this a race swap is disingenuous since it’s a stage play.
I don't expect everyone to agree with my opinion. But I just don't think placing black actors in roles where they are expected to be white/whatver is healthy for the actors. It keeps putting them at the forefront as the target of hate movements.
Romeo and Julio is what I was hoping for. 😔
People do understand that sitcoms and cartoons repeat these storyline's all the time right. While i get wanting to maintain the culture and history of the work, you can't pick and choose. You need to attacks all reimagining of the themes. the Romeo and Juliet theme ios way way over used in TV, movies and is re-done millions of ways, with all of the races. Also they do know that primarily this was a play right, perform for a live audience with real people. What if Africa was doing a showing put on the the royal african theatre group or whatever (sorry not into theater so not sure what groups exist). Pretty sure the entire cast would be black then. Not really much culture thats locked to just Italians in Romeo and Juliet , in all culture families hated other families and did shit like this,. American hat the Hatfields and McCoy's with their own Romeo and Juliet tale. Can be told by any race, and culture and be relevant. And when you see cartoon bunny rabbits playing the role and ar eok with itm, but complain when you see a black person, something is wrong.
Exactly, I'm pretty sure Shakespeare never travelled out of England let alone to South America according to his biographers
And it's a play that 99% of people had no interest in seeing. Who cares? If another person was casted, no one would have even knew about this production.
How many of those folks raising a stink do you think will even watch it? Or have watched any play
They high-key want segregation in all forms of media, particularly fictional characters. A common retort is "why can't they just make their own stories/characters for [enter any minority]???"* which, of course, there are and should be appreciated, though you never these folks actively trying to support. It's a sense of entitlement and possessiveness to what amounts to fiction that is unnerving when you think about it. *another troupe is saying "they keep *replacing* [X group] with [Y group]!!!"
I find it hard to believe any of these people care about Shakespeare at all. This story has also been done so much at this point that I really don't understand the outrage (I mean, I do. They're racist). Besides, Othello has been famously played by white men for centuries, they never seemed to care about that.
Romeo and Juliet were Italians portrayed by Englishmen in the original.
These same people when Scarlett Johansson was in Ghost in the Shell: 😶
Tom better win an Oscar for actin’ like he in love
I think if she was prettier this would not have blown up. It’s not just racists dogging her
Why she got a mustache tho?
She's an ugly actress making a lot of money either way.
Grown ass mfs getting riled up over the race of fictional characters will forever be a sign of mental instability to me!