• TheLameSauce@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    52
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    No trace of any reason for the firing to be found in the article, both sides at the time of publishing have been silent about it.

    Strange. Hoping it’s something shitty Marvel/Disney did, would be disappointing to hear DeMayo did something worthy of being dropped suddenly like this…

  • snooggums@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    But at times social media had proven a challenge while making the series. In May 2023, DeMayo announced he would be deleting his Twitter account, after he was attacked by users accusing X-Men ’97 of whitewashing the character Sunspot with the casting of Brazilian actor Gui Agustini in the role.

    He was accused of whitewashing by casting a Brazilian actor to play a Brazilian character?

    I gotta go down that rabbit hole.

    Edit: Looks like the controversy was race based as opposed to nationality, which is why my first search on the character Sunspot only mentioning the Brazilian nationality seemed weird at a glance. Fans going hardcore on accusations and it sounds like maybe some threats based on Beau’s responses. Sucks that every article is basically the same three paragraphs written slightly differently.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      Sunspot is complicated as a character due to the printing technology at the time he was introduced.

      It’s plain that he was intended to be a darker skinned Brazilian.

      First appearance in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: New Mutants:

      But the graphic novel had better printing technology than the comics and racial toning didn’t always come across well. Different artists also had different interpretations.

      So the movie casting set people off:

      • Zanderlus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Yeah I’m reading through the Claremont run for the first time and I can’t think of an issue where he hasn’t been depicted with a darker skin tone. That coupled with the fact his African-Brazillian heritage is referenced on numerous occasions leads me to seriously question the motivation for subsequent creatives (including Beau) to erase that aspect of Sunspot’s character.

      • ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        8 months ago

        Ahhh I see. That second-from-last comic image where he’s dodging lasers was the first one I found, and I was like “Wait it says this is from 2016 and he kinda looks like this Agustini guy already?”

        So the controversy actually predates the casting, it just brought it back to the forefront.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        That people are pissed about this and about disney doing a lot of the opposite in their movies is just proof that the world is full of the same bullshit, no matter what skin color or country you’re from.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Wait. I was legitimately operating on the fact that it’s ok for directors and artists to portray characters however they like now. I appreciated that.

      Is it not universal?

      Edit: I can imagine how this will be taken as bait or something but I’m not. I sometimes assume full absolute equality when that’s not realistic. Canonically white characters are regularly played by others and I’m legitimately ok with that. I can understand other groups being bothered when their canonical characters get changed, but again I believe in 2024 that’s the decision of the director/staff.

      Ultimately folks attach to characters and enjoy them, and those who are strongly connected will never be satisfied by seeing that character differently than they are on the page/original medium.

      I just don’t see how that’s enough to get someone fired but maybe there’s more to the story.

      Edit edit this apparently Brazilian character was even recast by another Brazilian which really feels like splitting hairs in 2024

      • snooggums@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        Edit edit this apparently Brazilian character was even recast by another Brazilian which really feels like splitting hairs in 2024

        This sounds closer to something like a black American character being played by a white American.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          8 months ago

          Interesting nuance. Im ignorant on Brazilian culture, but if I stick to my core point, it shouldn’t matter if a director makes a choice, at least not to get someone fired.

          Like they could make an all female presenting version of “Rudy” and that’s their choice.

          • snooggums@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            8 months ago

            Changing from a person of color to a white guy is one change that is never good though, because of how over saturated that demographic is represented in movies due to a wide variety of awful reasons.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              8 months ago

              I guess so, as this article describes. I don’t agree with it but will respect it (not that anyone cares what I think, I’m just chatting.)

              Regarding oversaturation, at least in us movies it doesn’t completely surprise me that there are just more “saturating” white actors on account of the white demographics of the country ( checking, even today around 75% to 71% white https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI125222#RHI125222 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States ) I bet due to underreporting that value is lower

              Anyway, apparently I’m not on target, and so be it. Everyone be well

              Edit also I didn’t downvote you

              • snooggums@midwest.social
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                8 months ago

                It is way higher than 75% for lead roles though, like 90%+

                Didn’t downvote you either, not sure what that is all about. Guess people don’t like someone taking time to process new info.

  • TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    8 months ago

    Notice how they used the term “fired” instead of “parted ways” or “left the show”. So he must have done something really bad.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    DeMayo, a Marvel regular who previously wrote on live-action series Moon Knight as well as early drafts of the company’s delayed-but-still-upcoming vampire thriller Blade, had completed writing duties on season two of X-Men ’97, was lining up press, and making plans to attend the show’s Hollywood premiere on March 13.

    However, it is unusual for a top creative on a Marvel project to miss a premiere or cancel press plans last minute, even if they’ve been shuffled to the side.

    The move was met with some level of excitement, as the scribe brought his identity as a gay Black man to the project, and made it a point in talking to the press about how growing up as the adopted son to white parents with a Korean sister in the South made the X-Men characters — and their struggles for acceptance by society — feel personal to him.

    His silence on social media has been acute as he was a prolific poster, sharing X-Men tidbits as well as shirtless pictures of himself at the gym.

    For a time he also ran a non-explicit Only Fans account, all of which inspired the LGBTQ publication Out to declare him “the Sexy, Gay Marvel Writer & Showrunner to Know.”

    In May 2023, DeMayo announced he would be deleting his Twitter account, after he was attacked by users accusing X-Men ’97 of whitewashing the character Sunspot with the casting of Brazilian actor Gui Agustini in the role.


    The original article contains 560 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!