From the big man himself (apparently):
To me, the color of the gunslinger doesn't matter. What I care about is how fast he can draw...and that he takes care of the ka-tet.
I hate to say this, but this doesn't carry a lot of weight with me. I'm trying to be diplomatic and not sound like I'm dissing Sai King, but he's been known to gush with praise over some of the worst adaptations of his material out there. He was all effusive praise for the
Under the Dome series, and response from CR's has been, well, considerably less praising.
He also seems to love the work of Mick Garris, who I think is among the worst directors ever to do a King adaptation, and I know I'm far from alone.
There are also several reasons why King might say such a thing other than that he really believes it. I'm not a mind-reader, so I won't suggest it's true, but the argument has been made before that if he were to say to any member of the press that he wants the Gunslinger to remain white, he would be excoriated as a racist who wants to deny black actors equal opportunity. And I believe that would happen, considering how people have reacted to fans who have stated they want him to stay as written.
And now, I'm pretty sure this post will be deleted.