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Richest Man The World Elon Musk Is Obsessively Complaining About Lupita Nyong’o Being Cast In ‘The Odyssey’

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Jasper Colt / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images | JB Lacroix/WireImage


Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, is obsessively tweeting about Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o being cast as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Musk has fired off numerous tweets disparaging her role in the film over the course of 24 hours.

Earlier this week, Time published an in-depth interview with Christopher Nolan that confirmed Lupita Nyong’o would be playing Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra in The Odyssey. Additionally, Zendaya will be playing Athena.

Elon Musk is obsessively tweeting about Lupita Nyong’o’s role as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

In response, conservative commentator Matt Walsh saw an opportunity to run his usual race-baiting grift and posted on X/Twitter that “not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world,'” adding that Nolan “is technically talented but a coward.” Elon Musk replied with a simple “True” — an amplifier he’s used multiple times in his social media crusade against Nyong’o.

Musk also wrote that Nolan “wants the awards,” suggesting that’s why he believes the director is changing the races of characters in The Odyssey. He was replying to a post about the Oscars’ representation and inclusion standards for Best Picture eligibility — though in actuality, those rules have little to do with casting.

This isn’t the first time Musk has gone after the film. Back in February, when Nyong’o’s role in the project was still unconfirmed, Musk amplified a post claiming it would be “an insult” to Homer, and later commented: “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.”

As we explained yesterday, complaints about Lupita Nyong’o being cast in The Odyssey are not actually based in constructive criticism of how Nolan is choosing to adapt Homer’s story but are simply racist dog-whistling.

The Odyssey is mythology, not a documentary. Circe, Calypso, and the Sirens are supernatural beings — Athena is a goddess. Casting mythological figures has never been bound by historical accuracy — stage productions and adaptations of Greek mythology have featured actors of various races for centuries.

And even setting that aside, the story is set across the ancient Mediterranean — Greece, Troy, North Africa, and various islands — a world that was genuinely multiethnic. Casting actors of African descent in that context is historically defensible in a way that, say, casting a Black actor as a Viking would require considerably more explanation for.

Meanwhile, The Odyssey — a $250 million production starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, and Benny Safdie —  already sold out several IMAX 70mm opening screenings a year before its release on July 17.

Once it becomes an instant Best Picture contender and racks up close to or more than $1 billion at the box office, watching all these naysayers having to continue to pretend they don’t like the film should be a real treat.

 

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