Michael B. Jordan as most know by now is playing Johnny Storm in the new “Fantastic Four” movie. Originally in the comics Johnny Storm is white, blonde hair, and blues eyes. Jordan being a black man playing the role people took to the internet to express how they did not like it at all. However, Jordan has released a letter to Entertainment Weekly to those who criticized him for being casted for the role.
Jordan starts his letter with,
“You’re not supposed to go on the Internet when you’re cast as a superhero. But after taking on Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four—a character originally written with blond hair and blue eyes—I wanted to check the pulse out there. I didn’t want to be ignorant about what people were saying. Turns out this is what they were saying: ‘A black guy? I don’t like it. They must be doing it because Obama’s president’ and ‘It’s not true to the comic.’ Or even, ‘They’ve destroyed it!’”
He heard you internet and now wishes that you consider this,
“Some people may look at my casting as political correctness or an attempt to meet a racial quota, or as part of the year of ‘Black Film.’ Or they could look at it as a creative choice by the director, Josh Trank, who is in an interracial relationship himself—a reflection of what a modern family looks like today.”
Jordan goes onto say,
“People are always going to see each other in terms of race, but maybe in the future we won’t talk about it as much. Maybe, if I set an example, Hollywood will start considering more people of color in other prominent roles, and maybe we can reach the people who are stuck in the mindset that ’it has to be true to the comic book.’ Or maybe we have to reach past them.”
And to close out his letter he says that, “To the trolls on the Internet, I want to say: Get your head out of the computer. Go outside and walk around. Look at the people walking next to you.”
Photo: 20th Century Fox
