POWER RANGERS Star Walter Emanuel Jones on Playing The Black Ranger: “It Wasn’t a Mistake. It Was a Milestone”

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers star Walter Emanuel Jones is pushing back against recent comments from former head writer Tony Oliver, who called early casting choices on the iconic ‘90s series a “mistake.”

In the new Investigation Discovery docuseries Hollywood Demons, Oliver reflected on casting a Black actor as the Black Ranger and an Asian actress as the Yellow Ranger, acknowledging that these choices unintentionally played into cultural stereotypes.

“None of us [were] thinking stereotypes,” he said. “It wasn’t until my assistant pointed it out in a meeting one day. It was such a mistake.”

Jones, who played Zack Taylor, the original Black Ranger, responded with clarity and pride in an Instagram post:

“I’ve always believed in focusing on the positive. 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! It wasn’t a mistake; it was a milestone. It was an honor.”

Jones also pointed fans to a March episode of Jim Cummings’ Too’d In podcast, where he addressed the same subject in more depth.

“The idea of me being in the black suit never bothered me,” he said. “When Thuy Trang came in, it was like she was an Asian girl in the yellow suit. That’s a little odd. [But] people tried to make [our roles] into something that was prejudice. I think what happened was as kids got older, they went, ‘Hey that’s a funny thing,’ and they turned it into something that was never meant to be.”

Trang stepped into the role of Trini Kwan, the original Yellow Ranger, after Audri Dubois left the show over a pay dispute.

Her scenes were edited into an already-shot pilot, which may have added to the perceived optics later on.

Oliver, reflecting on the casting process, recalled that producers were looking for certain archetypes:

“The Black Ranger seemed to have the swagger of the group,” and the Yellow Ranger was “the peaceful one, who tends to be the conscience of the group.”

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers premiered in 1993 and quickly became a cultural juggernaut. It was an awesome show that a generation of kids enjoyed!

While the behind-the-scenes conversation continues to evolve, Jones is choosing to keep his focus on what his character meant to fans: a symbol of strength, inclusion, and possibility.

And to him, that was no mistake.