Tim Burton has spoken out about his casting choices after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was called “racist” online.
The second Beetlejuice movie features stars from the original, such as Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton.
New cast members, including Jenna Ortega, also joined the production.
However, the movie has come under fire due to the casting choices made, as some believe the line-up could have been more diverse.
“I’m glad people are calling out Beetlejuice Beetlejuice for its racist depiction of black people. The only time black people are in the movie is for a soul train joke. The movie was good but Burton needs to realize that including minorities as people isn’t gonna kill him,” one person wrote on X.
A second person said: “The Soul Train scene in Beetlejuice was so unnecessarily racist and confusing.”
A third added: “Tim Burton never having black people in his films, only to have a stereotypical ‘soul train’ bit in the new Beetlejuice definitely made me uncomfortable.”
The scene in particular featured Astrid Deetz, played by Ortega, boarding the ‘Soul Train’ on her way to the Great Beyond.
The scene references the iconic ’70s TV show Soul Train, which celebrated Black artists in genres like R&B, soul, and hip-hop.
This isn’t the first time Burton has faced questions about his casting choices.
In 2016, while promoting Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Burton was asked by Bustle about the noticeable lack of diversity in his films.
He explained: “Nowadays, people are talking about it more … things either call for things, or they don’t.”
Reflecting on his childhood, Burton shared his discomfort with what he perceived as forced diversity in TV shows like The Brady Bunch.
“I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct, like, OK, let’s have an Asian child and a Black – I used to get more offended by that than just – I grew up watching blaxploitation movies, right? And I said, that’s great. I didn’t go like, OK, there should be more white people in these movies.”
These concerns are not new for the director. Even The Nightmare Before Christmas faced backlash over its portrayal of certain characters.
Screenwriter Caroline Thompson, who worked on the film, previously voiced her discomfort with the depiction of Oogie Boogie, a villain voiced by Black actor Ken Page.
In a candid discussion on the Script Apart podcast, Thompson explained her reservations about the character, stating: “Oogie Boogie is a derogatory term for African Americans in the American South.
“I begged the powers that be to change something about that character because of that. I said: ‘this is so ugly and dangerous and antithetical to everything inside me’. I did not win that fight… It was a troubling part of the film for me, to be frank.”
Despite the backlash, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice continues to dominate the box office, with reported worldwide earnings of over $250 million.