I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that Universal looked long and hard to cast this specific role. I think I even remember hearing they were doing additional auditions to find specific roles. At the end of the day, it probably came down to physical performance and matching Lupita's specific movements in the movie. Again, this isn't a matter of just putting someone in a mask and calling it a day, there were very specific demands for the role. As someone who is black, and surely I can't speak for the entire community, but I am fine with it to a degree given the context that the role needed to be filled, as the scene is absolutely necessary, and nobody could be found with a very demanding time restriction. Maybe they figured they could get away with it for a weekend or two. However, if they didn't give a crap at all and just gladly did it, that is an issue. Only issue is, context and explanation can't be given so yes, Universal is in a bit of hot water. But it's like, how do we know the performer isn't black? Legacy did confirm, but this picture is grainy haha. I certainly wasn't able to tell while in person. And what if they're half black? Surely a line has to be drawn somewhere and maybe I'm too forgiving. Like I said, I'm willing to give Universal the benefit of the doubt. They did get in trouble with this already this year for the film Good Boys, I don't think they'd do it twice unless there's a reason.
Wasn't Peele directly involved with the casting or something? I remember hearing that. What if the two performers usually in the role were sick and they had to pull someone from the pool. Do we just let the scene stay empty and basically ruin the climax of the maze?
Eh, I don't know, just scare me in the mazes, man, that's all I care about.