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Hollywood actor drops "Hellboy" reboot role over 'whitewashing'

The 34-year-old actor decided to step down “so the role can be cast appropriately”.

The actor who has previously starred in blockbuster hits like "Deadpool", "Transporter" refuelled and "Game of Thrones" said he was not aware the race of his character when he accepted the role in the comic book adaptation.

The preliminary casting prompted accusations of Hollywood “whitewashing”.

The actor noted on Twitter that “intense conversation and understandable upset" as he was cast in a movie as a Japanese-American character.

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“It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the arts,’’ he said.

Many praised the actor for his unselfish move and has gained a number of admirers.

“Thank you for doing this. You just gained a follower and I’ll definitely check out the next thing you work on," a follower admitted.

A trend which seems to be lingering in Hollywood is casting actors of white decent in ethical roles.

So the decision of the British actor to forgo the movie role marks the first time an actor has stepped down from a high profile role due to criticism according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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Producers of the "Hellboy" reboot Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Millennium and Lionsgate said in a statement that they were in full support of his decision.

“Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision” the statement read.

“It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material” the statement further iterated.

The Hellboy sequel is a reboot of the 2004 film and is set to be released next year.

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