Walter Emanuel Jones is proud to be the original Black Power Ranger, regardless of what the shows former writer thinks.

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers star said it was an honor to originate the role of the Black Ranger in 1993 in response to the shows previous writer, Tony Oliver, who said that it was a mistake to cast him in the part.In a Wednesday Instagram post, he acknowledged that being a Black actor portraying the Black Ranger can be seen as cultural insensitivity, though rather his casting wasnt a mistake; it was a milestone. I understand the impulse to address what might be seen as cultural insensitivity, Jones wrote in the caption of his post. But calling it a mistake would dismiss the impact it had on countless people around the world who found inspiration and representation in TVs first Black superhero morphin into none other than the Black Power Ranger.

Jones response comes after Oliver admitted he thought it was such a mistake to cast the Black character [as] the Black Ranger and the Asian character [as] the Yellow Ranger in the third episode of Investigation Discoverys Hollywood Demons docuseries.

He further opened up about his time on Power Rangers on Jim Cummings Tood In podcast in March, where he said that The idea of me being in the black suit never bothered me. However, Jones did note that it was odd when Thuy Trang was recast as the Yellow Ranger after Audri Dubois was fired from the show.

So then it became odd because at first [the Yellow Ranger] was Latina, and its like, Ok, Im wearing the black suit, Black guy, no biggie, he explained. But then when Thuy Trang came in, it was like she was an Asian girl in the yellow suit. Thats a little odd.

Still, the actor noted that he believes that people tried to make [their roles] into something that was prejudice[d]. He added, I think what happened was as kids got older, they went, Hey thats a funny thing, and they turned it into something that was never meant to be.