Why Finn Jones Briefly Quit Twitter Amid 'Iron Fist' Diversity Debate

Finn Jones is trying to promote Netflix's "Iron Fist," which comes out March 17, while also filming the Marvel/Netflix crossover "The Defenders," and also defending his character's whiteness.

He decided to scale back, though, after a heated exchange with a tweeter on Sunday.

This is the original tweet that started the debate:

representation is important. and here's why. https://t.co/w4rVuPtyrH

— Finn Jones (@FinnJones) March 5, 2017

This led to a back-and-forth with Asyi, a user based in Singapore/Melbourne, described as Creative Director for @GeeksofColor. Asyi too decided to step away from Twitter after the debate with Jones over the race of Iron Fist.

The Marvel character is white, as originally written in the comic, so the argument on one side is that the Netflix series is just sticking with the original story. This is how Danny Rand is meant to look. But part of the argument on the other side is that most -- although not all, as Luke Cage shows -- of these lead comic characters were originally written as white guys. (Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Thor, Scott Lang, Stephen Strange, etc..) Iron Fist would've been a chance to take the usual Rich White Guy Heads East To Learn Enlightenment And Skills And Returns Home To Kick Butt and give it to someone actually from the Far East.

This particular mystical martial arts hero would've been a fairly easy one to translate into different representation, and some fans are just frustrated that Marvel decided not to go there.

@AsyiqinHaron all of us making this show care about about creating a socially..

— Finn Jones (@FinnJones) March 6, 2017

After getting into it with Asyi in a long list of tweets and replies, Jones briefly deleted his social media account. He returned Monday and retweeted a Deadline story that featured his statement explaining why he's scaling back on Twitter:

"There is a huge benefit to engage and help shape conversations on social media, especially when it comes to giving a voice to social matters. My original intention was to amplify a speech made by Riz Ahmed at the House of Commons. It was a very articulate and important speech on representation that I wholly agreed with. After posting I was inundated by people accusing me of not being allowed to share his voice based on an assumption that our show is going to play into the problems of racial inequality on screen. I engaged politely, diplomatically and attempted to bridge the divide. I'm currently in the middle of filming and I need to stay focused on bringing to life this character without judgment, so I decided to remove myself from twitter for the time being.

I am very proud of the work everyone has done on this series and I'm excited for people to see how we've adapted the story. We have gone to great lengths to represent a diverse cast with an intelligent, socially progressive storyline. I hope people can watch the show before making judgments. In times, as divisive as these, we need to stay unified, compassionate and understanding in our differences."

"Iron Fist" is just the latest major project to be challenged for missing an opportunity to cast non-white actors, following "Doctor Strange," "The Great Wall," and "Ghost in the Shell." "Iron Fist" drops its 13 episodes on Netflix next Friday, March 17.

[via: Deadline]

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