“Oogie Boogie is a derogatory term for African Americans in the American South,” Thompson noted in reference to this character,
who was voiced by Black actor Ken Page, on the Script Apart podcast. Because of that, I pleaded with the higher authorities to alter that character in some way.
“This is so dangerous, ugly, and at odds with everything inside of me,” I said. That struggle was not mine to win. To be honest, I found that portion of the movie to be rather unsettling.
Consequently, let’s go forward to 2024 and the release of Beetlejuice. When teenage Astrid Deetz (Jenna Ortega) boards the “Soul Train,” Beetlejuice appears.
This is perhaps a reference to the musical variety TV program Soul Train from the 1970s, which emphasized hip-hop, R&B, and soul. Additionally, several people said that the sequence
“was so unnecessarily racist and confusing” on X. Others, like one who said, “I’m glad people are calling out Beetlejuice Beetlejuice for its racist depiction of Black people,
