The original cast of the Lord of the Rings movies are speaking out about the racism leveled at the cast and creators of the TV adaptation The Rings of Power.
Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan took to social media to share photos to stand up for diversity on the series.
Wood, Boyd, and Monaghan shared a photo of them in person, wearing shits made by Don Marshall.
The shirts have the following message written in Elvish:
“You are all welcome here.”
Astin, meanwhile, wore a baseball hat with the same message as the shirts.
None of the stars are associated with the Prime Video adaptation, which launched earlier this month.
The series launched just weeks after Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon, which was also criticized by racist fans because the series featured actors of color.
Whoopi Goldberg is one of many celebrities to have spoken out about the vitriol.
“They don’t exist in the real world,” Goldberg said on The View.
“You know that? There are no dragons. There are no hobbits. Are you telling me Black people can’t be fake people too? Is that what you’re telling me? I don’t know if there’s like a hobbit club, I don’t know if there are gonna be protests, but people! What is wrong with y’all?” Goldberg said.
“All of y’all who have problems because there are Black hobbits… Get a job! Get a job! Go find yourself, because you are focused on the wrong stuff.”
Amazon shared a statement from the cast of Rings of Power on Wednesday, condemning the racism.
“We, the cast of Rings of Power, stand together in absolute solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment and abuse some of our castmates of color are being subjected to on a daily basis,” the statement read.
“We refuse to ignore it or tolerate it.”
“JRR Tolkien created a world which, by definition, is multi-cultural,” the statement continues.
“A world in which free peoples from different races and cultures join together, in fellowship, to defeat the forces of evil.”
We stand in solidarity with our cast. #YouAreAllWelcomeHere pic.twitter.com/HLIQdyqLmr
— The Lord of the Rings on Prime (@LOTRonPrime) September 7, 2022
“Our world has never been all white, fantasy has never been all white, Middle-earth is not all white.”
Rings of Power premiered on Prime Video with 25 million viewers within its first 24 hours.
New episodes drop Fridays on Prime Video.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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