Jimmy Olsen will be played by Mehcad Brooks. It has been confirmed that for the very fist time, an African-American has landed the role of Jimmy Olsen in the upcoming series Supergirl. Melissa Benoist will be taking on the role of Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El aka Superman’s cousin.
Mehcad Brooks is the first black Jimmy Olsen. Via Twitter, True Blood and Desperate Housewives actor Mehcad Brooks has announced that he has been cast in the forthcoming CBS drama Supergirl.
Glee actress Melissa Benoist will play Supergirl also known as Kara Zor-El who is Superman’s cousin. The super hero series follows Kara Zor-El, a young woman who was adopted by the Danvers after arriving from Krypton as a baby.
While her foster parents always taught her to keep her super powers hidden, at the age of 24 after helping a human, she decides to become Supergirl and do great deeds. Mehcad Brooks aka Jimmy Olsen is Supergirl’s love interest, he is also a photographer at CatCo. where Kara works.
In 1984, Supergirl the movie, failed to captivate the audience like Superman or Batman. Brooks happily tweeted about the historic role:
Woo hoo! History has been made people! Thank you @cbs_ warnerbrothers @DCcomics and All my new family…
And a huge THANK YOU to @rapaportcasting for thinking outside of the box. Love you all. #giftbasketsareimmenent
Arrow and Flash‘s Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler will write the script and executive produce the drama via Berlanti Productions’ Warner Bros. The Jimmy Olsen Mehcad Brooks announcement is a trending topic on social media and some people are not happy about it. One person wrote:
“Imagined if they picked a white man to play a black character? Al Sharpton would staged a protest.”
Another commentator said:
“I am tired of Hollywood going for the first black star for the sake of diversity, what about a Latino or an Asian?”
An angry fan of Supergirl added:
“Jimmy Olsen had iconic red hair, Mehcad Brooks is a good actor, but he is a black man, he can’t pull that off, that show sounds crappier by the day.”
What are your thoughts on Mehcad Brooks playing Jimmy Olsen? Is he too far outside of the box?
