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“Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” star Walter Emanuel Jones is responding to head writer Tony Oliver, who said in the new Investigation Discovery series “Hollywood Demons” that it was a “mistake” to cast a Black actor to play the Black Ranger and an Asian actor to play the Yellow Ranger due to cultural stereotypes.
“I’ve always believed in focusing on the positive,” Jones wrote in an Instagram post. “I understand the impulse to address what might be seen as cultural insensitivity, but calling it a ‘mistake’ would dismiss the impact it had on countless people around the world who found inspiration and representation in TV’s first Black superhero — morphin’ into none other than the Black Power Ranger! It wasn’t a mistake; it was a milestone. It was an honor.”
“Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” kicked off in August 1993 on Fox Kids, featuring Jones as Zack Taylor (the first Black Ranger) and Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan (the first Yellow Ranger). Oliver said in the documentary that “none of us [were] thinking stereotypes” when these casting decisions were originally made. It wasn’t until “my assistant pointed it out in a meeting one day” that Oliver realized these castings were upholding stereotypes. Oliver added: “It was such a mistake.”
During the show’s casting, Oliver said the Black ranger “seemed to have the swagger of the group” and the Yellow Ranger was “the peaceful one, who tends to be the conscience of the group.” They were looking for actors who had these qualities.
In his Instagram post, Jones directed his followers to listen to an interview he gave in March on Jim Cumming’s “Too’d In” podcast.
“The idea of me being in the black suit never bothered me,” Jones said on the podcast, admitting that it was “odd” when Thuy Trang was cast as the Yellow Ranger after Audri Dubois left the show over pay. Trang was edited into the already-shot pilot.
“When Thuy Trang came in, it was like she was an Asian girl in the yellow suit. That’s a little odd,” the actor added. “[But] people tried to make [our roles] into something that was prejudice. I think what happened was as kids got older, they went, ‘Hey that’s a funny thing,’ and they turned it into something that was never meant to be.”
Read Jones’ full Instagram post below.
