Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan put ‘racist’ trolls on blast in a scathing statement following the online harassment of 12-year-old Leah Jeffries, a black actress, who was recently cast in the TV adaptation of the fantasy series.
In a post shared to his website Tuesday, Riordan slammed a subset of fans upset that the role of Annabeth, which is ‘described as white in the books,’ will be played by a young Black girl. ‘Friends, that is racism,’ he wrote.
The 57-year-old expressed his sadness that he even had to defend the casting and said in no uncertain terms that the role went to the best actress for the part, adding: ‘We should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong.’
‘This post is specifically...