Recently, Deadpool villain Ed Skrein signed on to the Hellboy reboot as Major Ben Daimio, a character from the Hellboy comics who happens to be half-Japanese. As everyone should’ve expected, the casting announcement was met with some controversy for being yet another example of Hollywood whitewashing a traditionally Asian character. The backlash seems to have surprised Skrein, who has now released a statement saying that he will backing out of the Hellboy reboot in attempt to make sure that the character “can be cast appropriately.” Skrein says that he didn’t know about the character’s original heritage when he took the role, and he believes ignoring that would “continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voice in the Arts.”
You can see Skrein’s full statement below.
The studios and producers behind the reboot have also released a statement, saying that they did not intend to “be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity,” and so they will recast the role with “an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”