Iron Fist star Finn Jones says Donald Trump is to blame for scathing reviews

Critics have been overwhelmingly negative about the upcoming Netflix/Marvel show

The star of upcoming Marvel/Netflix series Iron Fist has suggested Donald Trump is to blame for the show being pounded by critics.

After the embargo dropped for reviews it became clear that - despite previous successes including Jessica Jones and Luke Cage - Iron Fist has not been received nearly as well.

Finn Jones, who stars as Danny Rand in the show, admitted that people may have been put off because he is playing a "white billionaire superhero".

"I think the world has changed a lot since we were filming that television show," he told Radio Times. "I'm playing a white American billionaire superhero, at a time when the white American billionaire archetype is public enemy number one, especially in the US.

"We filmed the show way before Trump's election, and I think it's interesting to see how that perception, now that Trump's in power... how it makes it very difficult to root for someone coming from white privilege, when that archetype is public enemy number one."

Jones recently quit Twitter (he has since returned) after being accused of hypocrisy after comments he made about the importance of diversity on television.

Defending the show to fans who said they would have preferred the lead character to be Asian American, Finn shared a link to Riz Ahmed's recent speech about diversity and representation in film and television but was accused of hypocrisy but some viewers.

He wrote a statement which he released to Deadline, stating: "There is a huge benefit to engage and help shape conversations on social media, especially when it comes to giving a voice to social matters.

"My original intention to amplify a speech made by Riz Ahmed at the House of Commons. It was a very articulate and important speech on representation that I wholly agreed with.

"After posting I was inundated by people accusing me of not being allowed to share his voice based on an assumption that our show is going to play into the problems of racial inequality on screen. I engaged politely, diplomatically and attempted to bridge the divide.

"I'm currently in the middle of filming and I need to stay focused on bringing life to this character without judgement, so I decided to remove myself from Twitter for the time being."

Iron Fist launches on Netflix on 17 March.