*British actor David Harewood said white actors should be able to portray Black characters.
“We’re at this strange point in the profession where people go: ‘Oh, you can’t play that role because you’re not disabled, or you can’t play that because you’re not really from there.’ The name of the game is acting,” he said in an interview with The Guardian, Deadline reports.
“Yes, we’ve got to be representative, but I do think we have to be careful … That even extends to Othello in blackface. I say, if you want to black up, have at it, man. It’d better be f***ing good, or else you’re gonna get laughed off the stage. But knock yourself out! Anybody should be able to do anything.”
Harewood portrayed CIA agent David Estes in “Homeland.” More recently, he starred as J’onn J’onzz in the CBS series “Supergirl.”
His comments come on the heels of over 800 renowned Black actors writing an open letter condemning the racist harassment directed at Black actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers following her casting as Juliet in a West End production of “Romeo & Juliet.”
We reported earlier that the Duke of York Theatre in London is defending Amewudah-Rivers after racist trolls labeled her as too “ugly” to portray Juliet in their latest production, “Romeo & Juliet.”
Amewudah-Rivers’ casting has created social media buzz, with many calling it “the worst casting ever for Juliet.”
The Duke of York Theatre announced last month that Amewudah-Rivers will play Juliet alongside Holland as Romeo in the play, which opens on May 23.
Deadline reports that 883 Black performers supported the open letter, which actress Susan Wokoma and writer Somalia Nonyé Seaton organized.
“Too many times, Black performers – particularly Black actresses – are left to face the storm of online abuse after committing the crime of getting a job on their own,” the letter said.
“The racist and misogynistic abuse directed at such a sweet soul has been too much to bear. For a casting announcement of a play to ignite such twisted ugly abuse is truly embarrassing for those so empty and barren in their own lives that they must meddle in hateful abuse.”
The letter added: “Too many times theatre companies, broadcasters, producers and streamers have failed to offer any help or support when their Black artists face racist or misogynistic abuse. Reporting is too often left on the shoulders of the abused, who are also then expected to promote said show.
“We want to send a clear message to Francesca and all Black women performers who face this kind of abuse – we see you. We see the art you manage to produce with not only the pressures that your white colleagues face but with the added traumatic hurdle of misogynoir.”
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Wait. What?! Billy Dee Williams Advocates for Blackface Immunity Among Actors | WATCH
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