"Lord of the Rings" stars Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, who famously played hobbits in Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, have taken a stand against outrage over the diverse casting for "Rings of Power."
The new Amazon series has received pushback from some fans who have taken issue with people of color being cast as characters who were described as white in J.R.R Tolkien's books.
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Wood posted a photo of him standing next to fellow "Lord of the Rings" costars Dominic Monaghan, who played Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, and Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin "Pippin" Took, wearing shirts featuring ears in varying skin tones and the words "you are all welcome here" written above in Sindarian Elvish.
"You are all welcome here," Wood echoed the logo on his shirt as the caption to his photo.
Hours later, Astin posted a photo of himself wearing a cap with the same design.
"You are all welcome here," he captioned the image.
The cast of "Rings of Power" also shared a statement through the series' Twitter account with the hashtag #YouAreAllWelcomeHere, writing that they "stand together in absolute solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment, and abuse some of our castmates of color are being subjected to on a daily basis."
"We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it," the statement said. "Our world has never been all white, fantasy has never been all white, Middle-earth is not all white. BIPOC belong in Middle-earth and they are here to stay."
Whoopi Goldberg addressed the topic during an episode of "The View." Commenting on the backlash that has met "Rings of Power" and "House of the Dragon," Goldberg called out fans for accepting otherworldly creatures but not accepting Black actors.
"They don’t exist in the real world," she said of the fantasy characters in both series, according to Variety. "You know that? There are no dragons. There are no hobbits. Are you telling me Black people can’t be fake people, too? Is that what you’re telling me? I don’t know if there’s like a hobbit club, I don’t know if there are gonna be protests, but people! What is wrong with y’all?"
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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