London: Hollywood star Wesley Snipes has denied his “Blade: Trinity” co-actor Patton Oswalt’s claims that he “tried to strangle” director David S Goyer during the film’s making. The two actors featured alongside Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel in the 2004 superhero horror movie, which was the threequel in the “Blade” series with Snipes in the title role. During an interview with AV Club in 2012, Oswalt had alleged Snipes of misbehaviour during the entire time the crew shot for the movie.
Snipes, who had chosen not to comment on Oswalt’s interview, finally opened up about his claims during a recent conversation with The Guardian. “If I had tried to strangle David Goyer, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now. A Black guy with muscles strangling the director of a movie is going to jail, I guarantee you… Did I go to jail for strangling him? Never happened,” the 58-year-old actor said. Oswalt, who played Hedges in the movie, had claimed that Snipes “was just f**king crazy in a hilarious way”. The comedian also alleged that Snipes “would only communicate with the director through Post-it notes” throughout filming. “And he would sign each Post-it note ‘From Blade’,” the actor had said.
Snipes said it does not surprises him that Oswalt’s words were taken as a statement of truth as he is a white person. “This is part of the challenges that we as African Americans face here in America these microaggressions. The presumption that one white guy can make a statement and that statement stands as true! Why would people believe his version is true? Because they are predisposed to believing the black guy is always the problem. “And all it takes is one person, Mr Oswalt, who I really don’t know. I can barely remember him on the set, but it’s fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go: ‘Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem’,” he added.
Snipes further said he had authority over the choice of director for the film in the first place. “I remind you that I was one of the executive producers of the project. I had contractual director approval. I was not just the actor for hire. I had authority to say, to dictate, to decide. This was a hard concept for a lot of people to wrap their heads around,” the actor said.