Amid complaints against the show's diverse cast, the cast members from the original Peter Jackson trilogy take to social media to stand up for the Amazon Prime Video show's stars.
- Sep 8, 2022
AceShowbiz - The stars of the "The Lord of the Rings" movie series showed support to the cast members of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" amid complaints against the show's diverse cast. After Ismael Cruz Cordova and Lenny Henry revealed that they're subjected to racist abuse online, the cast members from the original Peter Jackson trilogy took to social media to stand up for the Amazon Prime Video show's stars.
On Wednesday, September 7, Elijah Wood made use of his Twitter account to show his support. The Frodo Baggins depicter shared on the blue bird app a picture of himself with co-stars Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who played Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took respectively.
In the picture, the three donned a T-shirt reading "You Are All Welcome Here" in Elvish. It also had ears of the various Middle-earth races in all different skin tones. "You Are All Welcome Here @LOTRonPrime @DonMarshall72 #RingsOfPower," he doubled down on his message in the caption.
Fellow "LOTR" star Sean Austin also joined in the campaign. Also on Wednesday, the actor, who played Samwise Gamgee, took to his Twitter account to share a photo of himself in a hat with the same design. The apparel, designed by Don Marshall, is available for purchase on the artist's website and 50% of the proceeds will be donated to "a charity that supports POC."
The "Rings of the Power" cast also showed support to Ismael and Lenny in a joint statement. "We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse some of the cast, like myself, are being subjected to on a daily basis," the statement, which was shared on Ismael's Instagram page, read in part. "We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it."
Prior to this, Ismael, who plays Arondir on the Prime Video series, revealed in an interview with Esquire that his social media inboxes have been flooded with messages that feature "pure and vicious hate speech." He shared that the harassment started two years ago following his casting announcement.
"I fought so hard for this role for this very reason," he said. "I felt that I could carry that torch. I made sure that my elf was the most Elven, the most incredible, because I knew this was coming."
Lenny shared that he also faced similar experiences. The actor, who portrays Sadoc Burrows on "The Rings of Power", said in an interview with The Times on August 28, "In worlds of dragons and elves, why is the casting of a black man the limit at which fantasy fans are prepared to suspend their disbelief?"
