Walter Emanuel Jones, the actor best known for his role as the Black Power Ranger in the 1990s "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," has rejected the notion that casting a Black actor in the role was a mistake.
"While some choose to seek out the negative, I’ve always believed in focusing on the positive," Jones wrote on Instagram this week.
“I understand the impulse to address what might be seen as cultural insensitivity, but calling it a 'mistake' would dismiss the impact it had on countless people around the world who found inspiration and representation in TV’s first Black superhero — morphin’ into none other than the Black Power Ranger!”
Jones’s comments follow remarks from Tony Oliver, a writer from the show, who said he regretted having a Black actor play the role of a Black Ranger and an Asian actor — Thuy Trang — play the Yellow Ranger.
In an interview for Investigation Discovery’s for "Dark Side of the Power Rangers," Oliver said he had never noticed the stereotype until his assistant pointed it out to him.
“It was such a mistake,” Oliver said.
Jones himself had joked about the casting of a Black actor as the Black Power Ranger, according to footage from the documentary.
“My name's Walter Jones, I play Zack. I'm Black, and I play the black Ranger — go figure," Jones said in the clip.
The show was a pop culture phenomenon for many growing up in the '90s, so much so that Jones reunited with castmates for a 30th anniversary reunion special.
“It wasn’t a mistake; it was a milestone. It was an honor,” Jones said in his Instagram post.
