David Oyelow has hit out at Games Of Thrones for not casting more ethnicities in the show.
The popular HBO show has a predominantly white cast including actors Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Liam Cunningham.
The actor feels that the show has failed to feature “prominent characters of colour”.
White cast: David hits out at HBO for not having more prominent characters of colour | HBO
Actors of colour who have starred in the show include Lucian Msamati, Nonso Anozie, DeObia Oparei, Jacob Anderson and Nathalie Emmanuel who starred in a handful of episodes.
“The fact that they put any ethnic minorities in that [show] means that there should be space for bigger characters,” David told Radio Times.
“Because you’re not just saying, ‘OK, this is purely a white world, and here are very story-driven reasons why that’s the case.'”
Characters of colour: David is known for his role as Dr. Martin Luther King in the film Selma | CLOUD EIGHT
The actor, known for his role as Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, thinks that including these characters only highlights the inequality of the show’s storylines using the characters as only supplementary or background roles.
“You are interspersing people of colour into it and so therefore it’s a conscious decision to put them on the margins, as opposed to put them front and centre.
“Even if for whatever reason, it’s a world in which people of colour in those stories are subservient, or they are more in a helper role, that doesn’t mean they can’t have prominent storylines,” he added.
“All you have to do is shift the focus to focus on those characters. So for me, there is absolutely no excuse in a show like that why there aren’t more prominent characters of colour.”
