I believe the problem people have is that when people are casting a role, it appears as though they throw out the comic or actual description and simply hire people who are hot at the moment or who have a connection with either the director, another star or in this case, the studio (aka Disney, the studio that hired her for the Disney Channel TV show).

When casting for a role, you'd think they pull out a few examples of the comic character and say, in this case for MJ, a young female, fair skin, bright red hair with model quality looks, thin and tall. This isn't in and of itself racist, so stop trying to make it that way. It's simply trying to hire an actress to bring to life the most "truest" form of the comic character.

To cast a dark skin, brunette, who's short (though she is very pretty) negates everthing a true casting director should do. When lines lines like this are broken, it opens up stuff saying, hey, you know the "Blob" from X-Men, yeah, well we are casting a guy who weighs just over 110lbs. Or casting someone who's 300lbs to play Wolverine, would you be okay with that? I don't think people are not liking HER because of her race, as much as it is they just don't like her for this role as she doesn't visually fit the legacy of MJ. Comic fans are passionate people, especially people who grew up and identify with decades of material. Using examples of how MJ talks is irrevelant, talking slang (i.e. dad, daddio, cat, tiger, square etc.) is much like fashion, it changes over time. But what hasn't is MJ's visual. She is, who she is.

That all being said, I'm not saying she can't play the role, for me, as long as they give her red hair, I'm fine with it.

Simply dismissing Zendaya’s qualifications to play this role because of her skin color is the literal definition of racism.