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Tim Burton responded to claims his movies are full of white people as Beetlejuice 2 hit with ‘racist’ claims

Home> Entertainment> Celebrity

Published 19:46 18 Sep 2024 GMT+1

Tim Burton responded to claims his movies are full of white people as Beetlejuice 2 hit with ‘racist’ claims

The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice director has faced plenty of backlash throughout his career

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

Featured Image Credit: Julien Hekimian/Getty Images/Warner Bros.

Topics: Racism, Diversity, Film, TV and Film

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

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@jessbattison_

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Tim Burton previously responded to claims his movies are full of white people as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has brought up fresh ‘racism’ claims.

The famed director and producer, of course, has a long list of iconic films to his name - from Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride to Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to name a few.

But while his work may be pretty popular, Burton has long faced criticism for the apparent lack of representation in his casting choices.

And now a scene from the Beetlejuice sequel has added to the claims of alleged racism.

Back when The Nightmare Before Christmas released in 1993, screenwriter Caroline Thompson claimed there’d been a clash over the villain, Oogie Boogie.

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This character was voiced by Black star Ken Page and during the Script Apart podcast, Thompson said: “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.”

Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.)
Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.)

So, fast-forward to 2024 and the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice when teen Astrid Deetz (Jenna Ortega) boards the ‘Soul Train’.

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This is a bit of a reference to the 70’s musical variety TV show, Soul Train, which celebrated R&B, soul and hip-hop.

And some users have taken to X to claim the scene ‘was so unnecessarily racist and confusing’.

While others simply called it ‘racist as hell’ as one put: “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," further adding that they still thought the 'movie was good'.

Tim Burton has plenty of films to his name (Eric Charbonneau/Warner Bros. via Getty Images)
Tim Burton has plenty of films to his name (Eric Charbonneau/Warner Bros. via Getty Images)

A TikTok user also slammed it as ‘in your face and obvious’ and that it ‘felt suspicious’ under the surface.

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Back in 2016, Burton responded to criticism about his casting choices amid backlash to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

He said: “Nowadays, people are talking about it more. I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct. Like, okay, 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, okay, there should be more white people in these movies.”

LADbible has contacted Burton’s reps for comment.

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