Constance Wu on Hollywood’s White Savior Problem: ‘Our Heroes Don’t Look Like Matt Damon’
Constance Wu has had it with Hollywood’s white savior complex.
The Fresh Off the Boat actress and two-time Television Critics Association Awards nominee posted a pointed letter to Twitter Friday, in which she criticized the whitewashing of Chinese history with the casting of Matt Damon in 2017’s action epic The Great Wall and called for Hollywood to change the narrative.
“We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that only a white man can save the world,” Wu wrote one day after the trailer debut for TheGreat Wall, which features Damon as its dragon-slaying lead. “It’s not based in actual fact. Our heroes don’t look like Matt Damon. They look like Malala. (Gandhi). Mandela. Your big sister when she stood up for you to those bullies that one time.”
More: Constance Wu on Hollywood’s white savior problem: ‘Our heroes don’t look like Matt Damon’