Simu Liu To Tarantino and Scorsese: The ‘Golden Age’ Was ‘White As Hell’
Quentin Tarantino's statement about Marvel actors not being real “movie stars” has sparked a response from one Marvel actor. Shang Chi star Simu Liu got his big acting break with the 2021 Marvel film. He wrote on Twitter Tuesday (November 22): “If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie. I am in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs. But they don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone.”
He added in a thread: “No movie studio is or ever will be perfect. But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I loved the ‘Golden Age’ too.. but it was white as hell.”
https://twitter.com/SimuLiu/status/1595126266780274688?s=20&t=4YXHehOMehLZEqUWCGoI0g
His Twitter thread seemed to backfire on him, however, with one user pointing out his Reddit posts (u/nippedinthebud appears to be Liu’s archived Reddit account) that are a bit problematic. In one of the alleged posts, which someone shared a screenshot of, Liu spoke about playing the role of a pedophile. While doing research on what makes a person that way, he compared the “cures” to pedophilia to that of “homosexuality 20 years ago, a la conversion therapy and whatnot.” It’s worth mentioning here that, as Scientific American reported in 2009, there’s no evidence that so-called “conversion therapy” ever worked on LGBTQ people.