Christopher Nolan is a ‘coward’ for casting Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy

It was the most predictable and inevitable thing in the world: the right-wing racist backlash to Lupita Nyong’o getting cast as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Nolan confirmed the rumor about Lupita’s casting in his Time Magazine interview this week. Maybe I’ve done a good job at blocking unhinged nutjobs on social media, but I’ve only seen a few major right-wing accounts talking about Lupita and bitching about it. One of those accounts? Matt Walsh, who argued that Nolan is a “coward” for casting one of the most beautiful women in the world to play a fictional beauty in the film adaptation of an epic poem about Greek mythology. Helen’s father was Zeus masquerading as a swan so he could bang Leda. There is no “historical accuracy,” for goodness sake. Well, anyway, after Walsh posted some racist bullsh-t, Elon Musk agreed with him. Good ol’ Muskrat, popping up with his f–ked up salamander face to remind everyone that he’s a South African eugenicist too.

Elon Musk has doubled down on dissing Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey” via new X posts and replies that mock the upcoming tentpole for casting Lupita Nyong’o and Elliot Page, the latter of whom previously worked with Nolan on “Inception.” Musk already came out swinging against “The Odyssey” in February amid rumors that Nyong’o would be playing Helen of Troy.
A new Time magazine profile of Nolan, published May 12, confirmed that not only is Nyong’o playing Helen of Troy, aka the most beautiful woman in Greek mythology, but the Oscar winner has a surprise second role as Helen’s sister Clytemnestra, who is married to Agamemnon.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh used X to insult Nyong’o, writing: “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 most beautiful woman’ role to a white woman. Nolan is technically talented but a coward.”

Musk supported Walsh’s opinion, replying: “True.” He also wrote on X that Nolan “wants the awards,” which is why he thinks Nolan is changing the races of characters in “The Odyssey. Musk was replying to a tweet that noted how the Oscars have representation and inclusion standards when it comes to best picture eligibility, although in actuality, those rules have little to do with casting. Established in 2020, to be eligible for a best picture nomination a film must fulfill diversity criteria that includes a combination of casting, subject matter, leadership and departments heads, crew, apprenticeships and/or audience development.

In additional X posts, Musk re-tweeted posts that mocked Page’s masculinity and claimed that Nolan was stomping all over Homer’s grave because of his casting choices.

Back in February when Nyong’o’s role was just a rumor, Musk amplified an X user who claimed that it would be “an insult” to Homer if the actor plays Helen of Troy because the Greek poet described the fictional character as “fair skinned, blonde, and ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’ because she was so beautiful that men started a war over her.” Musk later commented on the post: “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.”

[From Variety]

“Christopher Nolan wants awards, that’s why he cast Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, one of the most beautiful women in the world, to play a fictional beauty!” Listen to yourselves. Imagine looking at Lupita’s exquisite face and bangin’ body and saying “how dare she play a fictional character whose paternity involves a SWAN!” I’m old enough to remember the movie Troy, and they cast a white German woman as Helen in that film and there were STILL complaints at the time. That’s the power of storytelling! Everyone has their own idea of Helen of Troy, and what “the face that launched a thousand ships” would actually look like. Anyway, Muskrat is racist, big shock.

PS… My conspiracy is that Christopher Nolan is playing the public like a fiddle – there were already some conversations about The Odyssey possibly struggling to find an audience, so Nolan introduces a convenient and easily winnable culture war to promote his film: “Is Lupita Nyong’o Super Hot?” He now has a built-in woke, horny audience who will go see The Odyssey out of spite, just to stick it to rancid eugenicists.

So this is just open racism pic.twitter.com/SMccNnSZF0

— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) May 12, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.