I've watched one episode of TRoP and don't mind it. I attempted long ago to read the silmarillon but got bored so I've no vested interest in the book/base material.

I dont care whether a white character in a book or comic is played by a black/brown person, or the other way round really.

But I am baffled by the reactions they get. You always get the same reaction, people with the same coloured skin as the fictional character complain while the people of the same coloured skin as the actor don't see a problem.

But it does only seem to be racist for white people to complain about white fictional characters not being played by white actors, and racist for white actors to play non-white fictional characters. (I'm not talking about stuff like blackface here)

Admittedly I have limited knowledge about why this is the case, and obviously risk being labelled a racist for stating these observations. But genuinely I'm confused by it all.