Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons documentary series recently shined a light on the Power Rangers franchise in the episode titled Dark Side of the Power Rangers, and there were a number of interesting revelations. One such revelation came from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers head writer Tony Oliver, who spoke about the stereotyped casting of Walter Emanuel Jones as the Black Ranger. Now Jones has addressed Oliver’s comments and pushed back on it being called a mistake, as he has a very different view of it.
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Let’s start with Oliver’s comments in the episode, which addressed the casting of Jones as the Black Ranger and Thuy Trang as the Yellow Ranger. Oliver said “None of us are thinking stereotypes” regarding the castings, and that “It was my assistant who pointed it out in a meeting one day, that we had made the Black character the Black Ranger and the Asian character the Yellow Ranger.”
“It was such a mistake,” Oliver said. Oliver pointed to the castings being about the personalities, as Zack “seemed to have the swagger of the group,” with Trini being “the peaceful one, who tends to be the conscience of the group.”
Jones took to Instagram to respond to the comments, and while he definitely understands the cultural insensitivity of it looking back, he wouldn’t call it a mistake. For Jones, that throws out the impact the casting ultimately had, and you can find Jones’ comments below.
[RELATED: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: On This Day 31 Years Ago, One of the Greatest Franchises Came to Life]
“Incredible how many media outlets picked this up… However while some choose to seek out the negative, I’ve always believed in focusing on the positive. I understand the impulse to address what might be seen as cultural insensitivity, but calling it a “mistake” would dismiss the impact it had on countless people around the world who found inspiration and representation in TV’s first Black superhero — morphin’ into none other than the Black Power Ranger! It wasn’t a mistake; it was a milestone. It was an honor ✊🏾⚡️🖤 Swipe to hear me speak more about it on a recent episode of @jimcumm”
On Jim Cummings’ Toon’d In podcast, Jones elaborated on being cast as the Black Ranger, saying, “The idea of me being in the black suit, never bothered me and in fact I was happy about it. I thought it looked cool.” Jones then said, “The black was what I wanted to wear. When I saw it, I said, ‘I want this one.’ They said, ‘That’s yours.’”
The Dark Side of Power Rangers episode of Hollywood Demons is now streaming on Max, and you can find the official description of the episode below.
“Every ‘90s kid remembers Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the ultimate live-action, superhero show. Beneath the bright spandex and high-flying karate kicks lies a grim reality of tragedy and scandals. Viewers will watch never-before-seen footage of a fan-turned-gunman who had one horrifying mission: to assassinate the show’s most legendary star. And just a few years later, the same actor meets a grim fate.”
What do you think of Oliver and Jones’ comments and the episode overall? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things Power Rangers with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
H/T People
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