The cast of the Amazon Prime Video series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” released a strong statement on Wednesday condemning “the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse that some of our colleagues of color face on a daily basis.” The message comes after months of name-calling and slander surrounding producers and showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay’s decision to populate JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth — including humans, elves, dwarves and Harfoots (e.g., earlier versions of the Hobbits) — with actors of color.
“Tolkien created a world that is, by definition, multicultural,” the statement said. “A world in which free people of different races and cultures join together to defeat the forces of evil. Rings of Power reflects that. Our world was never fully white, fantasy was never fully white, Middle Earth is not fully white.”
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The statement also thanks fans for defending the cast, especially fans of color “who themselves find themselves attacked simply for being part of this fandom.”
On Wednesday, Lord of the Rings stars Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin posted merchandise on social media featuring the ears of Middle Earth creatures in various skin tones and the message “You are all welcome here” in Elvish, the language invented by Tolkien.
In August, Amazon introduced a new protocol that delays viewer reviews for 72 hours to weed out racist posts. This began with the series A League of Their Own, but the company has yet to publish user reviews on Prime Video for The Rings of Power since the series premiered on September 2. The series has been bombarded with reviews on several other review aggregation sites, such as Rotten Tomatoes. This has become a common tactic used by trolls to try to hijack the online discussion about series that expand the representation of their casts beyond white, straight, and cisgender men. Other recent fantasy series, including Netflix’s The Sandman and HBO’s House of the Dragon, have faced similar onslaughts of racist trolling for their inclusive casts—even though the original creators of both series’ respective sources, Neil Gaiman and George RR Martin, are actively involved in the adaptations.
You can read the full statement from the Rings of Power cast below.
We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity against the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse that some of our colleagues of color face on a daily basis. We refuse to ignore or tolerate it.
JRR Tolkien created a world that is, by definition, multicultural. A world where free people of different races and cultures join together to defeat the forces of evil. Rings of Power reflects that. Our world was never fully white, fantasy was never fully white, Middle Earth is not fully white. BIPOC belong in Middle Earth and they are here to stay.
Finally, all our love and solidarity goes out to the fans who support us, especially fans of color who themselves are attacked just for being part of this fandom. We see you, your bravery, and your boundless creativity. Your cosplays, fancams, fan art, and insights make this community a richer place and remind us of our purpose. You are valuable, you are loved, and you belong. You are an essential part of the LOTR family – thank you for having our backs.
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