After receiving extreme backlash due to her lack of resemblance to the D.C. Universe hero Starfire, actress Anna Diop has removed the comment section from her Instagram page.
Starfire is famed for her orange skin and brilliant red hair – which was originally bold and curly, and reworked in later adaptations to be straight. In a recent trailer released for the new “Titans” show, Diop, who is set to portray the orange alien, appears with seemingly flaming red curls and skin that appears orange in one shot and purple in the next.
After the trailer’s release, trolls deemed her casting an example of ‘black washing,’ as if choosing a black person to portray an orange alien or better yet any role with a character not specifically intended to be black, is a thing.
Anna Diop is indeed the wrong person to portray the character… but that's no excuse for racist attacks against her. Black washing a character is indeed racist in itself like with Iris West on Flash… but don't go attacking the actors/actresses for it.— Matthew Luthor (@ArkhamKnight88) July 20, 2018
Others claim to be unbothered by Diop’s race, but her shade of brown instead. One user said they didn’t ‘care for her skin color’ and wish someone ‘prettier’ than Diop was cast – insinuating that Diop’s skin color is the reason behind them finding her unattractive. Colorism, this user demonstrates, continue to be alive and well.
[NEWS] Anna Diop (Starfire) has disabled her instagram comments due to disgusting racist attacks since yesterday’s #Titans trailer. Racism is never okay and has no place in the DC family.— teen titans (@badpostitans) July 20, 2018
What trolls fail to realize is that comic creators often avoided starting controversies and angering readers in the 1930s and onwards by using ‘colored’ characters to tackle issues such as slavery, colonization/imperialism, racism and more. Greens, blues, oranges, reds and so on were a scapegoat for artists who did not wish to take too bold a stance on racial issues. Therefore, while Starfire is not black, her origins begin as an alien running away from home in order to escape enslavement – a history any black person can relate to. Diop’s casting only draws this connection closer.
Upon seeing racist comments filter through her Instagram comment section, Diop quickly disabled the option.
“Too often social media is abused by some who find refuge in the anonymity and detachment it provides: misused as a tool to harass, abuse, and spew hatred at others,” Diop wrote in an Instagram post that has since been deleted. “This is weak, sad, and a direct reflection of the abuser. Racist, derogatory, and/or cruel comments have nothing to do with the person on the receiving end of that abuse. And because I know this – I’m unfazed.”
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