Lucasfilm: White Hispanics Are Not Caucasians
When is white not white? Clearly when casting actors of color, according to Lucasfilm. The studio behind Star Wars has come under fire for a lack of diversity behind the camera, but now it’s being criticized for the whiteness of what’s in front of the camera as well.
Over the last few weeks, Lucasfilm has announced two new live action projects for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. Each of these highly anticipated series stars a melanin-challenged male lead — Pedro Pascal is the white face of The Mandalorian, while Diego Luna heads up the cast of the as yet Untitled Caucasian Andor show.
The casting news was initially met with excitement… but it didn’t take long before the Twitterverse began doing its thing. “Woke” fans argued that by casting white Hispanic males back-to-back in high-profile projects, Lucasfilm was trying to score diversity points in name only.
“It started with Oscar Isaac in The Force Awakens, but we let them slide, because when he doesn’t shave he can appear a bit darker. But now with Diego and Pedro, it’s getting ridiculous. Every Hispanic male cast in Star Wars gets whiter and whiter despite the fact that their names are getting more and more ethnic,” said Star Wars lore expert Hablo Pidalgo.
Still, other fans criticized Lucasfilm for taking a step backwards in the Disney era considering the amount of diversity on display in George Lucas’ prequel films.
“I’d rather have a brown man like Jimmy Smits with a Caucasian sounding name than a white Hispanic with an exotic name. Why are we relegated to the European ideals of male beauty in Disney’s Star Wars films,” posted a concerned fan who identifies as butter pecan colored male Latinx.
To quell the storm of comments, Lucasfilm issued a statement along with the 23andMe DNA results for its trio of white Hispanic male leads.
“Lucasfilm is proud to be an inclusive employer of talented male leads who come in every size, shape, and color that closely resembles Han Solo. Oscar Isaac, Diego Luna, and Pedro Pascal are three of the most exciting Hispanic actors in the world, and their DNA results prove they’re not Caucasians. In fact, at least two of them have 4% African ancestry combined.”
What do you think? Is casting white male Hispanics a cop out? Should there be more black and brown skinned performers in the new Star Wars TV projects? Let us know in the comments or hit us up in social.
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