The controversy began when TikTok user @Notthatkyle claimed in a January 18 video he posted that there were two different skin tones on one of the actors in the 2006 Disney Channel original movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. The user alleged that the actor was painted to look Black.

The film stars stars Brenda Song as Wendy Wu, and includes a character named Mr. Medina, played by James Gaylyn, who is Black. Gaylyn had a stunt double for martial arts scenes.

The TikTok user questioned a scene in which Wendy’s teachers, including Gaylyn’s character, are possessed by the Five Animals of Chinese martial arts and teach her how to fight.

The TikTok user slows down the fight scene while closing in on Gaylyn’s character. “Okay y’all, I just want you to watch him really quick,” the user says in the video. “First of all, he looks a little different, right?”

Then, he freezes the scene mid-action and points out Gaylyn’s character, who has his arms raised and his shirt slightly lifted, which appears to reveal skin much lighter than the actor’s head and hands.

At that point, the TikTok user says, “That is white skin and this man is painted.”

Disney hired stunt professional Nooroa Poa, who is Maori, to play Gaylyn in a martial arts scene, Disney spokeswoman Patti McTeague told Newsweek.

After reviewing the scene, McTeague confirmed that Poa was wearing a light-colored body pad under his wardrobe for his safety during filming. She said that it was the body pad that was seen in the TikTok video.

McTeague did not respond to whether the color of Poa’s head and hands were darkened with makeup, but Poa confirmed that his skin was darkened.

“I was hired for my martial arts skill, size and body measurements,” Poa told Newsweek. “I was painted darker with makeup to suit the complexion of the main actor James Gaylyn.”

Disney routinely hires stunt doubles for actors in compliance with its agreement with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).

“There are a number of factors that go into casting a double for a performer, including height, weight and build, skin tone match and in this case, training in martial arts relevant to the character, Mr. Medina, in the scene,” McTeague said.

“The producers endeavor to hire qualified persons of the same gender and/or race of the actor who is identifiable as Black, Latinx, Asian Pacific, or Native American,” she said. “The hire is of course based on the stunt professional’s availability and the criteria (height, weight, etc.).”

The Maori people are an indigenous Polynesian ethnic group of New Zealand and one of the country’s largest ethnic groups.

“l am of Pacific Island (Maori descent), so I do have a brown complexion off screen,” Poa said.

The film was shot in New Zealand and involved multiple martial arts scenes with Song cast as Wendy Wu, a teen high school student who is a reincarnated female warrior.