N.W.A Biopic Casts MC Ren And DJ Yella Roles Following Controversial Casting Description

Following the release of a controversial casting call description, the roles of MC Ren and DJ Yella have been cast in the forthcoming N.W.A. biopic.

According to Billboard, Aldis Hodge will star as Ren with Neil Brown Jr. as Yella. They join O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, who have been cast as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, respectively.

Both boast pretty impressive resumes having roles on various hit shows.

Hodge, who played Alec Hardison on Leverage, most recently appeared in A Good Day to Die Hard and The East. He currently has a recurring role on AMC's Turn and has been cast as a series regular on the soon-to-be seen Amazon series The After.

Brown played Guillermo on AMC's hit zombie show The Walking Dead, and his film credits include Battle: Los Angeles and Fast and Furious.

As previously reported, Universal Pictures and Sande Alessi Casting came under fire for a casting call description posted on Facebook.

The makers of the forthcoming N.W.A. biopic were accused of racism after the casting call, which appears to rank potential applicants by their skin tone and hair texture.

Universal released a statement July 17 which notably clears the filmmakers themselves of any wrongdoing. The statement says, "the filmmakers ... did not approve and do not condone the information in this casting notice. We regret and sincerely apologize for being in any way associated with the offensive descriptions it contained."

When asked about the description, a rep from the agency only appeared to add insult to injury, saying the ad was an "innocent mistake."

The rep also clarified that when it comes to casting the "poor" people, they're also looking for women of various skin tones and body types.

The post has since been removed.

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