The former head writer behind Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has lamented the casting of black and Asian actors as the Black & Yellow Rangers, believing now that the casting choices were ‘racially insensitive’.

While working on the first season of Power Rangers in 1993, head writer Tony Oliver claims “None of us were thinking stereotypes”, with the black character somehow ending up as the Black Ranger and the Asian character ending up as the Yellow Ranger.

Speaking on “Dark Side of the Power Rangers,” the latest episode of Investigation Discovery‘s new docuseries, Hollywood Demons. Oliver says it took “my assistant who pointed it out in a meeting one day” to realise the blatant stereotype-driven casting at the heart of the show.

“It was such a mistake,” he reflected.

Further decrying the stereotyping of Power Rangers, Oliver proceeded to explain how Zack Taylor (Walter Emanuel Jones) was the first Black Ranger, who “seemed to have the swagger of the group.” He described Trini Kwan (Thuy Trang), the first Yellow Ranger, as “the peaceful one, who tends to be the conscience of the group.”

Funnily enough, the documentary episode includes 8mm camcorder footage that reveals the cast themselves were aware of the optics. In one behind-the-scenes clip, Walter Emanuel Jones says to the camera: “My name’s Walter Jones, I play Zack. I’m Black, and I play the Black Ranger — go figure.”

What’s amazing is that as kids watching the show in the early 90s, I bet none of us put any correlation of race with their costume colours. In fact, it only ever clicked now. Although I guess it may have done sooner if any of us had thought that deeply about Power Rangers as adults in the years since.

I guess it’s a good thing they never had the Black Ranger break-dancing and spitting bars in his spare time, or had the Yellow Ranger be really good at maths and playing the violin. If anything, the actors managed to transcend the supposed stereotypes/typecasting/racism, for anyone who wants to look at the show through that lens.

Can you imagine casting a black guy as the Black Ranger and an Asian girl as the Yellow Ranger in 2025? The internet would not stop crying about it. Bring back the 90s, I say!

For the time the Green Power Ranger challenged CM Punk to a UFC fight, click HERE. Wonder how that would’ve gone down.