Leslie Jones denies casual racism in her casting in Ghostbusters revival…
You might not be afraid of no ghost, but it seems that there are a lot of people who are afraid of casual racism.
After the recent release of a trailer for the upcoming Ghostbusters revival film, fans took to Twitter to voice their outrage at one particular aspect of the trailer that seemed to imply some casual racism.
Not many fans were happy with the portrayal of Leslie Jones’ character being an MTA worker while her costars Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig are all scientists.
Leslie Jones is an actress, that’s clear, right? You know she could act like a scientist like the white people, yes? #ghostbusters #ugh
— Sofiya Alexandra (@TheSofiya) March 3, 2016
Some might have feared that this was a repeat of reducing a character like what happened to Ernie Hudson’s portrayal of Winston in the original films.
“When I originally got the script, the character of Winston was amazing and I thought it would be career-changing,” Hudson wrote in an essay for Entertainment Weekly. “The night before filming begins, however, I get this new script and it was gone. His elaborate background was all gone, replaced by me walking in and saying, ‘if there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything you say.’ So that was pretty devastating.”
Jones didn’t seem to agree with the racism that fans seemed to be implying.
ITS NOT A MAN, WOMAN, RACE, CLASS THANG!! ITS A GHOSTBUSTER THANG!! AND AS FAR AS IM CONCERNED WE ALL GHOSTBUSTERS!! STAND TALL!!
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) March 4, 2016
Regular People save the world everyday so if I’m the sterotype!! Then so be it!! We walk among Heroes and take them for granted.
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) March 4, 2016
I’m playing a hardworking woman.The regular one that rep the people. You guys are the racists by labeling her a lowly MTA worker.Not me
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) March 7, 2016
Jones went on to explain that being an MTA worker doesn’t reduce her character’s value in the film. She did not let the negativity of people’s interpretation of her character let her down; she instead used it as an opportunity to address to her fans that there will always be haters but it shouldn’t prevent someone from doing their own thing.
Her character’s job as an MTA worker provides the “everyday person” with the ability to be a hero, showing that her character is not just interacting with ghosts in 2016 NYC but is more than able to keep up with the other three in trying to save their city, which can be seen when she literally slaps the ghost out of McCarthy’s character.
If anyone has actually lived in New York, they would know that MTA workers are pretty tough people. They also know the city better than most regular New Yorkers. Leslie Jones’ character provides the real New Yorker involvement in Ghostbusters. MTA workers aren’t lowly in the city, they’re pretty important to making sure the city that never sleeps stays functioning.
Ghostbusters will be coming to the big screen this July.
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