People Aren't Sure Dwayne Johnson is Dark Enough to be John Henry
I don’t know that anything can be made without some kind of controversy. Dwayne Johnson recently announced that he was going to star as John Henry in John Henry and The Statesmen. This did not go over well with a lot of the Internet. While some are just sick of seeing Johnson in every other movie released, others mentioned that Henry is traditionally depicted as a very dark skinned African-American. Johnson is half African-American, but his skin is not super dark, hence the controversy. These people are wondering why other talented actors such as Winston Duke, Idris Elba, Terry Crews, or others (including newcomers) who could have a similar stature while having the dark skin attributed to Henry. Here are some of the reactions from across the Internet.
Johnson posted on social media about the film, but didn’t seem to address the controversy that this has stirred up.