Beau DeMayo Slams Marvel for Race-Swapping, Ignores His Own ‘X-Men ‘97’ Casting Controversy
Beau DeMayo, once praised as a rising writer at Marvel Studios for his work on X-Men ’97, hasn’t been in the spotlight much lately. He was unexpectedly fired by the studio before the first season aired.
At first, the reason for his firing was unclear, but later the studio revealed that he was let go due to alleged sexual misconduct. An internal investigation found concerning behavior, leading to the swift decision.
Since then, DeMayo has criticized Marvel for racism and homophobia and has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the company, but there are no updates on the case yet.
Since being fired and accused of sexual misconduct, DeMayo has used his social media to criticize Marvel Studios and Disney for various reasons. His latest complaint is about the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man trailer, which revealed that Norman and Harry Osborn will be race-swapped in the upcoming animated show.
In the comics, Norman Osborn is a white man, famously portrayed by Willem Dafoe in live-action. In the show, he will be voiced by Colman Domingo, who has been rumored for other MCU roles.
DeMayo criticized Marvel for changing white villains to Black characters, saying it feels “funny” and citing examples like Kang, High Evolutionary, Norman Osborn, Electro, and Mordo.
Before assuming DeMayo is against all race-swapping, it’s important to note that he’s specifically upset about villains being changed to different races.
Fans quickly called him out for his hypocritical statement, pointing out that he himself is guilty of race-swapping in X-Men ’97.
DeMayo introduced a new character, Sunspot, to the show, voiced by Gui Augustini. While Sunspot is supposed to be Afro-Brazilian, Augustini, who has Brazilian roots, is white. This led to accusations of hypocrisy, as DeMayo had criticized Marvel for race-swapping characters in films, yet cast a white actor for an Afro-Brazilian character.
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