Rings Of Power’s Ismael Cruz Córdova needed on-set therapy after racist casting uproar
The Lord Of The Rings' star relives the trauma of being the target of a racist outrage over his casting
The weeks leading up to Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power was a rerun of the loathsome trends in pop culture, another chance for racists to overtake the conversation with bad-faith criticisms of fidelity to the source material and gatekeeping designed to keep these properties as white, male, and heteronormative as possible. As was the case with Star Wars, Ghostbusters, and Captain Marvel, these “backlashes”—if anyone wants to call them that since they’re more than likely coordinated attacks in the culture war that brought us the current wave of book bans, transphobic legislation, and moronic boycotts of light beer—elevate bigoted talking points by thrusting them into the public’s consciousness. Simply put: A person of color playing an Elf shouldn’t be controversial.
It’s even worse on the inside of these uproars. In a recent talk with Variety, Rings Of Power star Ismael Cruz Córdova, who plays Arondir, said these issues went beyond Instagram comments. He needed on-set therapy to sort through it. “You need support when this happens because the voices are so loud, and they’re coming at you from so many places,” he said. “It had a psychological and mental health impact. That’s something that I’m very, very open about so that people understand that what they do and say online really hurts people, really has an impact on us.”