The Hobbit has been subject to accusations of racially biased casting, spurred by Rooney Mara recently signing on to play Tiger Lily in Pan, the new adaptation of the J.M. Barrie classic.

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A whole fracas was stirred up over Warner Bros. casting a white actress (Mara) to play the character, who is actually a Native American. The furor has erupted online in the form of a petition backed by thousands accusing the studio of being racist: "stop casting White actors to play people of color!"

Leading from this The Hobbit has also been dragged into the entire controversy and is also being tried for similar tendencies when it came to casting.

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In 2010, comedian 2010 Comedian Wyatt Cenac pointed out the injustice meted out to non-white prospectives for the film. He brought up an instance of an American-Indian woman seeking to play the part of an extra in the Peter Jackson film trilogy. "She showed up to the casting call, and they turned her away. And they said "No, you can't be in this movie because you are too brown to be a hobbit," he said.

The Hobbit: There and Back Again will hit theaters on Dec. 18. 

Watch Cenac talks about The Hobbit extras in his standup act:


John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show
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