X-Men’s Alexandra Shipp on Storm casting: “…to be a black superhero, we picture them looking like us.”

DARK PHOENIX actress Alexandra Shipp isn’t apologizing for older comments she made while responding to criticism on social media of her being too light-skinned to portray Storm, X-Men’s mutant weather Goddess. “This conversation about Storm is so stupid, I’m out,” she tweeted last year after a Twitter discussion erupted about colorism in Hollywood and her casting as the iconic mutant. “If I lose my job to another actress, I hope it’s for her talent and grace, not her skin [color],” she proudly stated.

Speaking recently with Glamour Magazine, she reflected on the discussion, saying: “[I tweeted back] at people who criticized me for not having dark enough skin for my role in X-Men because we’re not going to have this conversation about a cartoon character. You’re not going to tell me that my skin color doesn’t match a Crayola from 1970. Growing up, when I was reading the comics, I pictured her looking like me. For any black girl, for there to be a black superhero, we picture them looking like us. So when I auditioned for the role, I wasn’t like, ‘Oh man, I’m not dark enough.’ I was like, ‘Finally, this is my moment.’ I’m not playing Harriet Tubman with a prosthetic nose and darkening my skin tone. I would never do that.”

Shipp made her debut as Storm in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Being a X-Men prequel (of sorts) set in 1983, director Bryan Singer has gone on record saying that he was explicit in casting directors finding an actress that resembled a young Halle Berry.

Source: Glamour