Anthony Mackie Says It’s ‘More Racist’ That ‘Black Panther’ Is Only Marvel Movie With Black Crew!

Yahoo.com. By Brian Welk-THE WRAP, Posted July 10th 2020

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” actor Anthony Mackie called on Marvel to do better with diversity on its films and said it’s “more racist” that the only film to feature a black cast, director and crew was “Black Panther.”

“It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white,” Mackie said as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors video segment. “But then when you do ‘Black Panther,’ you have a Black director, Black producer, a Black costume designer, a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else.”

He continued: “Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”

Mackie spoke in conversation with “Snowpiercer” star Daveed Diggs and said that, like Diggs, now that he’s finally the star of his own show with the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” he can push higher ups to practice more diverse hiring.

“My big push with Marvel, with everyone, is, hire the best person for the job,” he said. “Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men. Fine. I’m cool with those numbers for the next 10 years. Because it starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs. If we’ve got to divvy out as a percentage, divvy it out. And that’s something as leading men that we can go in and push for.”

Mackie made his MCU debut back in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” back in 2014.

Check out the video clip of Mackie talking with Diggs here, and check out the rest of his interview in Variety here.