The Homeland actor David Harewood has stepped into the controversy over black British actors playing African American roles, arguing that Britons may be better suited to some parts because they are not burdened by “what’s in the history books”.
Harewood was “gutted”, he writes, to be replaced in the American production but understood why it was recast since “it was thought to be too risky to have two unknown black British actors in a play about such an American hero”.
Jackson also suggested that so many British actors were cast in American roles because “they’re cheaper than us, for one thing”, and because casting agents thought Britons were better trained.
I’d argue that it was exactly because Daniel wasn’t a real American brother that he was able to do so.”