This year, Spider-Man’s legacy continues with the street-level adventures of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. However, the mostly well-received show has sparked a heated debate following problematic comments made by its lead voice actor, Hudson Thames, in an interview earlier this year.
In case you’re wondering, who exactly is Hudson Thames? Well, he is an actor and musician who has voiced Spider-Man in several animated series, including Marvel Studios’ What If…? series, when he took Tom Holland’s place as the web-slinging hero.
In January of this year, the 30-year-old actor caused a stir among Marvel fans after making seemingly controversial comments in an interview with Collider, saying:
“I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn’t, and I was like, ‘Yes, this is great, it’s so well written,’ like it feels real,” Thames said. “I’m the oldest of five boys, so I feel like I kind of know what’s happening in their lives and in high school, and it felt like it was doing that justice.”
As one might expect, Thames’ use of the word “woke” has angered some viewers, who have been demanding that the voice actor be replaced. On the other hand, other fans have pointed out that the initial article lacked sufficient context and even pointed out that the term could have a different meaning in this context (a theory not everyone is convinced by).
It appears that the incident could have actually been just a simple misunderstanding after all, as Hudson Thames finally had an opportunity to address his remarks and make a sincere attempt to clarify precisely what he meant.
When questioned about his earlier remarks on Juju Green’s Straw Hat Goofy Podcast in March, Thames claimed that his remarks to the online entertainment site had been taken out of context and spun for a story.
“This was my first experience with how the media can take something and make it mean the opposite of what it is supposed to mean,” Thames told Green, continuing, “So, obviously, something that I said was cherry-picked and used essentially with no context just to kind of stir up some drama, and basically what was happening is we were talking about that little period of time before the show came out, and I was noticing a lot of comments online that I was getting that were either people being nervous or expressing concern that the show was using topics of diversity and equality in an inauthentic or disingenuous way, and it made me defensive. I wanted to kind of defend our show a little bit…It was such a poor choice of words.”
The actor and musician also highlighted that he had tried to convey the genuine intentions behind the show’s representation of diversity and equality but acknowledged that his response may not have clearly communicated that.
“My point was that our show doesn’t have to do that, it doesn’t have to pull any tricks. Jeff [Trammell] did such a brilliant job, in my opinion, of writing what he knew, and I think as audience members, honesty resonates,” Thames noted.
“I feel like every piece of involvement and equality and diversity was just already baked into the story he wrote, and nothing felt forced, I suppose, so I was really just trying to complement the grace in which that all plays out in the show, and ironically, it’s what attracted me to the show in the first place. I was like, man, this is really well done, in my opinion, and I loved every aspect of it, but it was really upsetting because people think I mean the opposite of what I mean.”
The voice actor also added that he is ‘the most supportive of how inclusive this script is,’ and acknowledges that he erred by using a “buzzword.”
It seems understandable to get defensive about a project everyone has already criticised before ever seeing it, especially since Disney has faced plenty of backlash for how it handled diversity and equality issues in past projects like the Little Mermaid remake and the upcoming live-action Snow White adaptation.
For those unaware, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was heavily criticised for its racial swapping of Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) and Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson). This was a major factor in the early accusations suggesting the show was going to be “woke.”
Whether Thames has received really great media training since his initial remarks or whether his words were actually taken out of context will probably never be known for sure. But you can catch more of the interview on Green’s YouTube channel, and be sure to check out Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on Disney+.
