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Elon Musk once again weighed in on the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey.
Musk replied to a post by conservative political commentator Matt Walsh on Tuesday (May 12), criticizing Nyong’o’s casting.
“Not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world.’ But Christopher Nolan knows that he would be called racist if he gave the role of ‘the most beautiful woman’ to a white woman,” Walsh wrote in a post on X. “Nolan is technically talented but a coward. Too afraid to do anything that even slightly challenges the spirit of the age.”
Musk replied: “True.”
Walsh revisited the topic the next day, arguing that a white actress, such as Sydney Sweeney, would have been better suited for the role.
“We’re told that we shouldn’t object to Helen of Troy being portrayed as a black woman. And yet if a major Hollywood studio made a film set in Africa and cast a white woman as ‘the most beautiful woman in Africa,’ those same people would literally riot in the street,” Walsh wrote. “If, say, Sydney Sweeney was cast in the role, they’d be driven to murderous violence. We all know this is the case.”
Musk once again chimed in in the comments, claiming Nolan’s casting choice reflected “such hypocrisy in Hollywood.”
When another user posted a screenshot criticizing Walsh and Musk’s comments as “open racism,” Walsh replied that it was funny to use the “this is racist” routine and that “the word has no meaning.”
Musk first responded to rumors surrounding Nyong’o’s casting in January, replying to a post on X criticizing the decision by writing that “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.”
The comment came in response to a post complaining that Helen of Troy was historically described as “fair-skinned” and blonde — and that casting a Black actress would be an “insult” to Homer’s epic.
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy is often described as “the most beautiful woman in the world.” She is also famously associated with the phrase “the face that launched a thousand ships.”
Nolan confirmed Nyong’o’s casting on Tuesday in a TIME interview. He also shared that Nyong’o will play Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra.
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