Actor Ed Skrein (don’t worry if you’ve never heard of him, The Scrapbook hadn’t either) was recently hired for a supporting role in a new movie adaptation of the Hellboy comic book franchise. He was to play a military man named Major Ben Daimio. Unbeknownst to the hapless young Skrein, however, in the original comic books, Daimio is an Asian character. A Twitter mob descended on the actor, who is not Asian, accusing him of being an accessory to the crime of “whitewashing.”
Knowing what was good for him, Skrein skedaddled. He announced he was leaving the production: “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 voices in the Arts.”
David Harbour, the actor chosen to play the lead in the movie, applauded the mob: “Hey internet. Thank you for your voices,” he tweeted. “An injustice was done and will
be corrected.” Overlooked in the controversy were social media posts from various demons angry that the prime role in Hellboy has once again been awarded to a living, terrestrial human—Harbour— rather than an honest-to-goodness denizen of the Inferno. “Bloody typical,” Malacoda, an activist in the Eighth Circle of Hell, posted on Facebook. “It’s a measure of prejudice against demons that Hollywood takes a white actor and paints him a ridiculous shade of red, when any number of infernal actors of natural cochineal hue would kill—well, at least eternally torment—to get that role. And they wouldn’t even need CGI batwings.”
On Twitter, an outraged goblin named Farfarello added, “Just like Potter series—goblins played by non-goblins in ludicrous makeup. SAD!”
The Malebranche branch of Actors’ Equity is joining forces with organizers in the Lowerarchy, notably a “senior tempter” named Screwtape. “Mine has been one of the truly authentic voices in the underworld,” he said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Toadpipe. “And yet time and again when my words have been adapted, the actors hired have been sinners, yes—some of them admirably robust sinners—but not real demons. For shame.”
