Get to know our team in the first episode of Therapists are People!?

A question came up during the podcast asking whether the Power Rangers show was racist, in part due to the Black Ranger being played by Black actor Walter Jones and the Yellow Ranger being played by Vietnamese American actress Thuy Trang. Walter Jones has responded to this question in numerous interviews. In an interview with Afterbuzz, he stated:

“…there’s that slight confusion everybody wants to talk about, ‘You were the Black Ranger and the Black guy and the black suit, that was controversial, was it weird?’…and they go, ‘Was that prejudice?’ And I’m like, okay, first and foremost, I was a superhero, I was a role model for millions of kids around the world and so it can’t be prejudice because I was a hero, you know, but stereotypical? Maybe, a little bit.”

Jones has also spoken about the casting process for his character, which required those auditioning to combine hip hop and martial arts. He has noted in numerous interviews that originally Latina actress Audri Dubois was cast as the Yellow Ranger, but she was fired after advocating for better compensation and that is when the role was recast to Trang.

The Power Rangers creators, producers, directors, and writers have also been identified as creating an atmosphere of homophobia on the set. David Yost, the actor who played the Blue Ranger, revealed after leaving the show that he did so due to persistent harassment and intrusive questioning related to his sexual orientation. Yost, a gay man, was not out at the time he was on the show and has spoken of the impact of this experience on his mental health and coming to terms with his sexual orientation. He has since participated in the NOH8 campaign and promoted the Trevor Project.