Jeffrey Wright: Backlash Over a Black Commissioner Gordon in The Batman Was “Absurd and Racist”
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Jeffrey Wright has recalled that some fans were unhappy with his casting as Commissioner James Gordon in The Batman. In a new interview with Collider, the Oscar-nominated actor said the negative reactions were not only without “logic” but also among “the most absurd” things he had ever witnessed.
He explained: “It really fascinates me that this debate even exists, this debate about these characters being Black. It’s deeply racist and absurd. It’s such a blind perspective that exposes not just the evolution of this film but of society itself, showing a kind of fractured reverence rooted in the cultural reality of 1939, when those comic books were first published. It’s the most ridiculous claim. It has no logic.”
Wright added that Batman has remained a cultural icon precisely because he was created with a sense of openness, allowing future storytellers the freedom to reinterpret him: “I feel like, just like anyone else, these stories belong to me too. Maybe now that I’ve played this role, I can step into these games more freely. Bob Kane and Bill Finger [the creators of Batman] were two Jewish men from the Bronx, and they imagined their heroes and villains in a city that resembled their own. But what they created, to me, was open-minded.”
The Westworld star previously told Metro that before stepping in front of the camera for The Batman, he quietly infiltrated several police departments in the U.S.: “Very quietly, I slipped into a few police stations in the United States. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that! I came back to superhero films because this space holds 80 years of richness and detail, stories that are constantly evolving, and I wanted to see where I could take it within the scope of Matt Reeves’ wonderful vision.”
Wright is set to reprise his role in The Batman: Part II, written and directed by Matt Reeves, which after long delays is now scheduled for release on October 1, 2027.
