The actor, who portrays the Human Torch, and her co-star Kate Mara tacked awkward situations when asked a racist question during a promotional interview.
- Aug 3, 2015
AceShowbiz - "The Fantastic Four" stars Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara had an awkward moment while doing a radio interview to promote the upcoming film. They were asked an offensive question by DJ Steven J. Rickman of Rock 100.5 Mornings in Atlanta.
The duo was with co-star Jamie Bell when they were subjected to an insensitive line of questioning. "From what I've seen you're brother and sister," Rickman asked Jordan and Mara. "Am I missing something?" he added. When they said "no," Rickman, a.k.a. Southside Steve, continued, "But you're [Mara] white and you're [Jordan] black. How does that happen?"
Michael gave a perfect response to the racist question, "They could be raised as brother and sister. There's a whole bunch of family dynamics that could be without the 'obvious adoption.' " Rickman then shifted the topic, turning his attention to Mara and her hair. "You're way, way hot. Why'd you cut the hair? Your hair was beautiful," he asked Mara.
"This is a great interview," Mara responded, before saying that she cut her hair for another movie she just filmed. "They asked me to. I'm an actress. I have to be a chameleon," the 32-year-old actress answered.
The conversation went much weirder with a small talk about toes. "I'm a toe guy, your toes are fine," the DJ praised Mara. She simply responded, "Wow," before their team ushered Rickman and his co-host DJ Jason Bailey out of the room.
Bailey defended himself after the interview, sending an email to BuzzFeed which read, "Look, not a huge fan of these controlled 5-7 minute interview junkets they run in the first place but I was curious about the brother and sister thing. You have a white sister and black brother wouldn't you want to know how that happened? I did. The other Fantastic Four franchises explain the relationship so I figured with this new hipster version they'd have some different backstory."
He also noted that his partner, Rickman, was only joking with Mara. "My partner's [Rickman] conversation about Kate's hair is something that came up while Michael B. Jordan took a phone call so I think they were kind of just going back forth in a playful way," he continued. "As for him complimenting her toes and why people are upset about that...sorry...no idea. Steve likes girl's toes. People should be appreciative when they get complimented."
"Fantastic Four" follows four young people who are transported to a strange and dangerous universe that alters their physical bodies in the most unusual ways. Jordan stars as Johnny Storm (Human Torch), Mara portrays Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Bell plays Ben Grimm (The Thing) and Miles Teller stars as Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). Directed by Josh Trank, the movie will arrive in the United States on August 7.
