It was announced this week that actress Quinta Brunson will star as Betty Boop in an upcoming film adaptation, sparking spirited discussion over Hollywood’s trend of casting traditionally white characters with actors of different races.
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh criticized the decision after Discussing Film shared the announcement on social media.
“There is only one reason to bring back an iconic piece of Americana just to race swap it like this,” Walsh wrote. “Even a faithful Betty Boop reboot probably wouldn’t sell many tickets. A race swapped Betty Boop has absolutely no chance of success. But they do it anyway out of spite.”
Walsh later claimed the account blocked him and disabled comments on the post after the backlash intensified.
“This is a pretty interesting way to have a discussion about film,” he wrote in a follow-up post.
The account “Discussing Film” turned off the comments and then blocked me. This is a pretty interesting way to have a discussion about film. pic.twitter.com/XIrQNOiL4w
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 21, 2026
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles also weighed in on the controversy during his show on Thursday.
“Betty Boop is a white lady. And it changes the story if you try to change that,” he said. “We’re told that race doesn’t matter. It’s a social construct. It’s totally meaningless. So all the white characters can and really should be played by black people or Hispanic people or just non-white people. But surely no one’s ever casting Tom Cruise to play Malcolm X in the autobiography of Malcolm X.”
As the controversy lit up online, many commenters argued that Betty Boop was actually based on a black woman, but even the left-leaning outlet PBS admitted that is a misrepresentation.
“A short item promoting PBS’ Black History Month programming suggested the Betty Boop cartoon character was based on a black performer of the Jazz Age,” the outlet posted in 2021. “That’s not entirely true.”
The outlet noted that Betty Boop is widely believed to have been inspired by jazz performer Helen Kane.
Betty Boop debuted on August 9, 1930, in the Fleischer Studios cartoon short “Dizzy Dishes,” in which she appeared as an anthropomorphic dog. Kane later sued Fleischer and Paramount Pictures in 1932, claiming Betty Boop was a “deliberate caricature” of her “baby vamp” persona, the outlet noted.
Despite these facts, there are plenty of commenters who insist Betty Boop was inspired by the black singer Esther Jones, or, at the very least, that Kane was ripping off Jones the whole time, thereby indirectly contributing to the creation of the character.
Brunson, best known for creating and starring in ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” is developing and starring in the film adaptation through her company, Fifth Chance Productions, which teamed up with Mark Fleischer, who is the grandson of Betty Boop creator Max Fleischer, according to a Variety report.
The outlet noted that the movie will trace the origin and evolution of Betty Boop through the perspective of her creator.
“Betty Boop is one of our nation’s most beloved cartoon characters, yet somehow still remains pleasantly niche,” Brunson wrote in a statement. “She has had a quiet but undeniable impact on culture for nearly a century. After Erin and I met with Mark and learned more about his grandfather’s creation of Betty, I realized there was a much deeper story to tell. One that could be explored in a way that feels refreshing, subversive, and timeless, much like Betty herself.”
Fleischer said, “When Quinta first approached me with the unique concept of a movie about the relationship of my grandfather, Max Fleischer, and his creation, Betty Boop, I was breathtaken. Quinta so embodies Betty’s love of life, intelligence, humor, sassiness and compassion that the relationship between her as Betty and Max burst into life at its mere mention.”
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