This story originally appeared on The Root, our sister site, on Tuesday, April 8.
Remember the “Power Rangers”? The massive franchise launched countless sequels and spinoffs, but when it launched in the U.S. in 1993, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” was brand new and took the world and pop culture by storm. The series followed a group of teenagers with super-powered alter egos destined to protect the world from extraterrestrial dangers. In a recent interview, however, the head writers of the series confessed to the “mistake” they made casting the series, specifically when it came to racial stereotypes.
In the original series, the only Black character, Zack Taylor (Walter Emanuel Jones), and the only Asian character Trini Kwan (Thuy Trang), played the Black and Yellow Rangers, respectively. “None of us are thinking stereotypes,” former Power Rangers head writer Tony Oliver said on the latest episode of Investigation Discovery’s new docuseries, “Hollywood Demons.”
Oliver added that it took his assistant one day calling it for them to realize what they had done. “It was such a mistake,” he explained. During the episode, they even show never-before-seen footage from behind-the-scenes, where Jones says to the camera, “My name’s Walter Jones, I play Zack. I’m Black, and I play the Black Ranger — go figure.” During the series’ casting, Oliver revealed how the Black Ranger “seemed to have the swagger of the group,” while the Yellow Ranger was “peaceful” who tended to “the conscience of the group.”
For many millennials, Power Rangers is a big part of their childhood, so of course they took to X with their thoughts on the matter. Some fans were quick to point out that the roles eventually were replaced, with a Black actor taking over as a Yellow Ranger and an Asian actor taking over as the Black Ranger.
Should they have thought more about stereotypes before casting the show this way? Or was the representation in the 90s good enough for the time? Fans seem divided on the issue. For some, this revelation is not that big of a deal. One user wrote, “Nobody was upset about this watching this as kids.” Another added sarcastically, “Cause 3 y/o me is so mad rn.”
One X user called out the show for making the Black Power Ranger “pop-lock before every punch/kick.”