A former “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” actor has a message for the fans: Don’t judge him by the color of his skin … or the color of his suit.
In a recent episode of “Toon’d In! with Jim Cummings,” actor Walter Jones shut down rumors that his casting as the black ranger had anything to do with the color of his skin.
Jones appeared on the hit show for 79 episodes, becoming a viewer favorite alongside the green and white ranger played by the late Jason David Frank.
While Jones said he was “proud” to don the black suit — “I thought it was cool” — his casting had nothing to do with race.
The 54-year-old also addressed claims that actress Thuy Trang was cast as the yellow ranger because of her Asian ethnicity.
“We originally, in our pilot, had a Latina playing the yellow ranger. But after we got picked up, and we came back, she asked for more money, and they fired her,” the actor revealed.
Jones admits he finds the rumors a bit strange, as race on the set just “wasn’t a big deal.”
Most important, “The kids didn’t care.”
‘Was I somebody that you couldn’t be proud of?’
Still, conspiracy theory-minded “Power Rangers” fans have managed to turn a strange pair of coincidences into “something that was never meant to be,” said Jones.
“People try to make it and see something that was prejudiced. I’ve had a lot of people [say], ‘What do you think about Power Rangers being prejudiced?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, one, I’m a role model for kids in 40 different countries, and what’s prejudiced about that?'” Jones continued.
The Michigan native said he’s always asked those trying to find some kind of racial preference to his casting to judge him by his character instead:
“Am I uneducated? Was I somebody that you couldn’t be proud of?” he recalled telling the show’s critics.
While Jones said he can still appreciate controversial black characters from his childhood like Buckwheat from “The Little Rascals” and Mr. Bojangles from Shirley Temple’s “The Little Colonel,” he was proud to have embodied a character who transcended racial stereotypes.
Jones reprised the role in 2023’s “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always,” a 30th anniversary TV film.
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Align, Power rangers, Kids shows, Racism, 1990s, Wokeness, Entertainment
