Jimmy Kimmel has lambasted Elon Musk for criticizing Christopher Nolan’s casting of black actress Lupita Nyong’o in his adaptation of The Odyssey.
Nyong’o, 43, has been enlisted to play Greek mythology’s Helen of Troy, the ravishing daughter of Zeus whose ‘face launched a thousand ships,’ in that her seduction by Troy’s prince Paris resulted in the Trojan War.
The acclaimed actress, who won an Oscar for the 2013 historical drama 12 Years a Slave, will also feature in the film as Helen’s sister Clytemnestra.
Her hiring was greeted by online backlash, including from conservative pundit Matt Walsh, who fumed on X that nobody ‘on the planet’ regards Nyong’o as the world’s most beautiful woman but that Nolan ‘knows that he would be called racist if he gave “the most beautiful woman” role to a white woman.’
Musk, who owns the social media platform, responded to Walsh by writing: ‘True,’ eliciting pushback on Instagram from Alec Baldwin.
Now Kimmel has entered the fray, admonishing Musk to ‘stay in your lane’ while mocking the tycoon’s Tesla Cybertruck on his late-night talk show.
Jimmy Kimmel has lambasted Elon Musk for criticizing Christopher Nolan’s casting of black actress Lupita Nyong’o in his adaptation of The Odyssey
Kimmel began by showing a tweet by Musk that read: ‘Chris Nolan desecrated the Odyssey so that he would be eligible for an Academy Award.’
He displayed another Musk tweet posted this last Friday in which the industrialist demanded: ‘Who specifically is the a**hole who added DEI lies to Academy Awards eligibility instead of it just being about making the best movie?’
Musk was referring to Oscars guidelines instituted in 2023 that require best picture nominees to meet at least some of a raft of diversity quotas in the cast or crew, with applicable groups including racial minorities, women, LGBTQ+ people or the disabled.
As a retort to Musk’s tweets, Kimmel showed a photo of a Cybertruck and joked: ‘Who specifically is the a**hole that thought this was a cool design for a truck?’
Musk started inveighing against Nyong’o’s Odyssey casting last Tuesday by responding to a post that Matt Walsh wrote on X.
‘Not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is “the most beautiful woman in the world.” But Christopher Nolan knows that he would be called racist if he gave “the most beautiful woman” role to a white woman,’ wrote Walsh.
‘Nolan is technically talented but a coward. Too afraid to do anything that even slightly challenges the spirit of the age,’ he added.
Musk replied: ‘True,’ to Walsh’s tweet, and when another X user that same day asked: ‘Why is Christopher Nolan like many other directors so keen to race swap white characters?’ Musk responded: ‘He wants the awards.’
Nyong’o, 43, pictured last year, has been enlisted to play Greek mythology’s Helen of Troy, the ravishing daughter of Zeus whose ‘face launched a thousand ships’
Musk demanded: ‘Who specifically is the a**hole who added DEI lies to Academy Awards eligibility instead of it just being about making the best movie?’
The following day, Walsh returned to the subject and tweeted that the people defending Nyong’o’s casting would be ‘driven to murderous violence’ if Sydney Sweeney were hired to play ‘the most beautiful woman in Africa.’
‘Absolutely true. Such hypocrisy in Hollywood,’ replied Musk, who himself was born and raised in apartheid-era South Africa but left at the age of 17.
He explained years ago in an interview with Rainn Wilson that he quit his native country ‘in part in order to avoid conscription in the army. You know, spending two years suppressing black people didn’t seem to be a great use of time.’
Alec Baldwin reacted to the Nyong’o furor by posting a photo of her to Instagram and writing: ‘Dear Elon… but she IS the most beautiful woman in the world.’
Musk also slated trans actor Elliot Page, who was recently the subject of false rumors he would be playing the legendary warrior Achilles in The Odyssey.
When the speculation began circulating, Musk slated the potential hiring choice as ‘one of the dumbest and twisted things I’ve ever heard.’
It later emerged that Page would in fact be playing Elpenor, a young member of Odysseus’ crew who dies by accidentally falling from a roof drunk, and whom Odysseus later encounters in the underworld.
After news broke of Page’s actual role, Musk reposted a tweet that read: ‘I’m not mocking her masculinity. I’m denying its existence.’
Musk also slated trans actor Elliot Page, who was previously the subject of false rumors he would be playing the legendary warrior Achilles in the film
Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey has been hotly anticipated for years, with an all-star cast including Matt Damon as Odysseus (pictured in the role
Nolan’s movie of The Odyssey has been hotly anticipated for years, with an all-star cast including Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope.
Tom Holland will feature as the couple’s son Telemachus, while his fiancée and Spider-Man co-star Zendaya is playing the goddess Athena.
Robert Pattinson has been tapped for the antagonistic role of Penelope’s suitor Antinous, with Charlize Theron as the goddess Calypso, Jon Bernthal as the Spartan king Menelaus and Benny Safdie as his brother Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae.
The movie also features John Leguizamo, Samantha Morton, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins and rapper Travis Scott.
Nolan’s Odyssey, his first release since his best picture Oscar-winning 2023 film Oppenheimer, is will bow in theaters in the United States July 17.
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