The [Star Wars Acolyte] show was unceremoniously cancelled, allegedly due to low ratings – but in the weeks leading up to its season finale, the cast faced relentless torrents of racist abuse online from so-called fans who couldn’t handle a Black actor leading a
Star Wars series. In a video posted to her Instagram story, Amandla addressed the cancellation, noting that since the show was announced in 2020, she and the cast have experienced a “rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry, vitriol, prejudiced hatred and hateful language”. It’s an infuriating cycle: actors of colour are cast in
Star Wars projects and are immediately made vulnerable to vicious bigotry. (
John Boyega in particular
has been outspoken about his experience with racism while part of the
Star Wars sequel trilogy.)
“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting ****ing dog-piled on the internet with racism and bull****,” Jodie says of Disney’s lack of response to
The Acolyte’s reception. “It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”
“It would just be nice if the people that have all the money” – whether that be Disney or any studio – “were showing their support and putting their feet down,” she proposes. “Say this is unacceptable: ‘You’re not a fan if you do this.’ Make a really big statement and just see if any money leaves. I bet you it won’t, because people of colour, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power. They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”
She’s hopeful that the tide will shift one day: “Opinions change. What’s in vogue changes. We’re gonna get there at some point, to that place where people stop having a stick up their arse about people of colour being a part of IPs that were created by white people. You know why?” she asks. “Because we’re never going to ****ing stop participating.”
When people can’t envision sci-fi outside of an antiquated vision of the genre, being a person of colour in the public eye is unforgiving. Actors like Jodie are attacked just for existing, and when ratings aren’t as explosive as hoped, it seems that the blame falls on them. “We don’t get to fail upwards like a lot of white men,” she says. “I just feel that some people are allowed to grow and others have to be perfect, and if they’re not perfect – even when it’s great – people want to ****ing tear it apart.”