Actor Peter Shinkoda (Falling Skies) accused former Marvel TV executive Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD) of allegedly making anti-Asian remarks during his tenure on the Netflix series Daredevil, according to Deadline. Loeb is the former head of Marvel’s TV division, which is now under Marvel Studios and its president Kevin Feige.
Shinkoda detailed his experience during a virtual panel entitled #SaveDaredevilCon which streamed on YouTube. He was joined by fellow Daredevil castmates Tommy Walker and Geoffrey Cantor.
Shinkoda played Nobu Yoshioka, a member of the Hand that served as one of Matt Murdock/Daredevil’s antagonists throughout the series. Shinkoda revealed his character was to be given a deeper narrative along with Madam Gao, played by Wai Ching Ho (Hustlers). Unfortunately, this storyline was scrapped.
Shinkoda detailed these claims in the panel by stating Loeb allegedly “told the writers’ room not to write for Nobu and Gao…and this was reiterated many times by many of the writers and showrunners.” Shinkoda also said Loeb allegedly commented “‘Nobody cares about Chinese people and Asian people. There were three previous Marvel movies, a trilogy called Blade that was made where Wesley Snipes killed 200 Asians each movie. Nobody gives a sh*t so don’t write about Nobu and Gao.’”
Shinkoda later took to Twitter revealing another alleged incident from the Marvel team toward him and Ho. He tweeted neither were invited to the season two premiere of Daredevil, as both found out about the event as it live-streamed.
Loeb has been accused of alleged mistreatment of Asian representation throughout his time working on different Marvel Netflix television series. Loeb had previously dealt with a similar issue when casting for superhero Danny Rand in the Netflix series Iron Fist. Rand is a white American who becomes gifted with an ancient power, rendering him to take on the role of the Iron Fist. Marvel and Loeb hired actor Finn Jones (Game of Thrones ) while many fans petitioned for an Asian lead in the feature role, via Deadline.