‘House of the Dragon’ star Steve Toussaint responds to racist viewers

“House of the Dragon” star Steve Toussaint spit fire at racist viewers after some raised an issue with his casting as Lord Corlys Velaryon in the new HBO series, which premiered Sunday.

The British actor, 57, told Men’s Health that several fans said his casting was not true to the book’s depiction of members of House Velaryon.

“It seems to be very hard for people to swallow,” said Toussaint of his character, who is the richest man in Westeros.

“They are happy with a dragon flying, they’re happy with white hair and violet-colored eyes, but a rich Black guy? That’s beyond the pale.”

According to the book “Fire & Blood,” the source material for “House of the Dragon,” Lord Corlys is never stated to be white but is said to have hair that is “Targaryen white-blonde.”

“When they asked me to stop shaving, I was like, ‘Oh no!’ I’m not a big fan of the beard, but it’s part of the look. It’s striking,” he said of his character known as the Sea Snake. “Even if the show doesn’t do well, I will look good and that’s what’s important!”

Toussaint said he’s received lots of support, though.

“What has been wonderful is for every toxic person that has somehow found their way into my timeline, there have been so many others who have been so supportive and been like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait, this is going to be great,’” Toussaint added.

“Even when we were doing certain scenes, there would be supporting artists who would come up and go, ‘It’s great to have this representation.’”

Showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik were allegedly the brains behind the choice to cast people of color as the richest family of Westeros in an attempt to address the frequent criticism of the lack of diversity “Game of Thrones” often received.

“The world is very different now than it was 10 years ago when [‘Game of Thrones’] all started … These types of stories need to be more inclusive than they traditionally have been,” Condal told Entertainment Weekly.

“It was very important for Miguel and I to create a show that was not another bunch of white people on the screen, just to put it very bluntly.”

Condal also added that the casting of Toussaint fulfilled one of George R.R. Martin’s original ideas.

“Long, long ago when he was conceiving of this world, [Martin] himself had considered the idea of making Velaryons a race of black people with silver hair that essentially came from the other side of the ocean,” explained Condal.

“That’s a fascinating idea and that always really stuck with me because it’s such a stark image. I just thought, ‘Well, why couldn’t we do a version of that now?’”

“House of the Dragon” airs Sundays on HBO Max at 9 p.m.