Director Jon Watts Slams Spider-Man: Homecoming Whitewashing Controversy

Earlier this month, Spider-Man: Homecoming became the latest fodder of Hollywood and Marvel's whitewashing controversies.

There was Marvel Netflix series Iron Fist's casting of Finn Jones back in March. Then there's Scarlet Johannson playing a cyborg character in Ghost in the Shellin April. Then there's the controversy of casting Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange.

This month, the announcement of Michael Barbieri's inclusion in the cast of Spider-Man: Homecoming was accused of whitewashing because the 14-year-old actor is reported as playing the Ultimate Spider-Man character Ganke Lee, who is a Korean-American. It's already known that Barbieri isn't playing Ganke, but since the backlash has not dwindled any further, director Jon Watts decided to set the record straight. Via Twitter, the filmmaker is reiterating that Barbieri isn't going to portraying Miles Morales' Korean-American best friend.

Take a look at Watts' tweets:

Personally, I don't think the studios had any intention of whitewashing the movie. The cast is looking diverse as it is, which includes Tony Revolori, a Guatemalan American; Laura Harrier, an African American; and Zendaya, a biracial, half-White, half-African American. Besides, the studios probably just saw Barbieri as the best fit for his role.

Spider-Man: Homecoming hits theaters on July 7, 2017

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