Iron Fist actor says Trump presidency negatively affected opinions of show

Iron Fist actor Finn Jones has called out President Donald Trump specifically as one of the reasons critics had such strong, negative reactions to the series.

In an interview with Radio Times, Jones said there are quite a few similarities between his character, Danny Rand, and Trump. It’s because the president is so widely distrusted and disliked by many that critics have a hard time separating Rand’s archetype from Trump’s.

“I think the world has changed a lot since we were filming that television show,” Jones said. “I’m playing a white American billionaire superhero, at a time when the white American billionaire archetype is public enemy number one, especially in the US.

“We filmed the show way before Trump’s election, and I think it’s very interesting to see how that perception, now that Trump’s in power, how it makes it very difficult to root for someone coming from white privilege, when that archetype is public enemy number one.”

This isn’t the first time that Jones has gone on the defensive regarding negative reviews of his series. Iron Fist, which is currently sitting at 14 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, has been called lazy, boring and problematic overall. In Polygon’s review of the series, we called it “laughably bad.”

In a recent interview, Jones said the issue is that Iron Fist was made for fans, not critics, attracting the ire of many who found his defense insulting. It’s the same excuse actors like Cara Delevingne and Amy Adams have used to defend Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice respectively.

It’s impossible to know whether or not fans do appreciate Iron Fist more than critics right now. The series will be available to stream in its entirety on March 17.