DC Comics Criticized For Casting Jeremy Irvine In ‘Green Lantern’ As Gay Character

It was announced this week that Jeremy Irvine would be joining the main cast of the upcoming Green Lantern series on the streaming service HBO Max. Irvine will be portraying the iconic member of the Green Lantern Corps Alan Scott, who is best known for being the first Green Lantern to appear in the original comics back in 1941. Alan Scott also just happens to be one of the very few DC heroes who can be identified as a member of the LGBTQ community within that continuity. Irvine will serve as one of the four lead characters in the upcoming Green Lantern series alongside Finn Wittrock, who has already been cast as the arrogant Green Lantern Corps member Guy Gardner.

CHECK OUT JEREMY IRVINE’S uBIO HERE!

Irvine’s casting has proven to be controversial with a number of gay fans. Many feel that Irvine should not have been cast as Alan Scott, as the actor has not been public about whether he is LGBT or not, whereas Alan Scott’s homosexuality is an import feature of the character. Irvine’s involvement in the widely panned 2015 film Stonewall directed by Roland Emmerich is one of the most notable reasons for people being uncomfortable with the actor being cast as Alan Scott, due to the film being infamous for whitewashing the Stonewall riots of 1969.

Irvine has addressed the controversy surrounding the film and defended the movie, believing that more attention has been brought to the Stonewall riots thanks to its release. “I don’t think any of us expected it to get the attention that it has. But now how many people have heard the name Marsha P. Johnson, opposed to never having heard it before? Wow,” Irvine said. “I was out last night and had a few groups of people come up to me and wanted to talk about the film. They wanted to know if Marsha P. Johnson was going to be a part of the movie and I was like, ‘Yeah! But also, how cool that you are all talking about that.”

Despite the controversy surrounding Irvine’s casting, the Green Lantern series will begin production sometime around the end of 2021.