Amandla Stenberg has released a music video in response to the backlash directed at Star Wars: The Acolyte. The newest Star Wars series to stream on Disney+ has not been without controversy, from a review-bomb campaign to issues with The Acolyte‘s place in regard to Star Wars canon. And of course, there are those fans who have issues with a series featuring non-white males, which brings us to star Amandla Stenberg. Similar to Moses Ingram on Obi-Wan, Stenberg has had to deal with racist backlash for her dual roles in Star Wars: The Acolyte. However, Stenberg has a response of her own in the form of a music video.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“Happy Juneteenth 🖤and to those who are flooding me with intolerable racism—since it took me 72 hours on my laptop to make this song and video, u got 72 hours to respond. and I expect choreo!!” Amandla Stenberg wrote on Instagram, where she also shared a music video she created herself. As she states in the caption, Stenberg worked on the video for 72 hours while also coming up with the lyrics and dance choreography, where she fires back at her critics in aspiring fashion. One of the topics Stenberg addresses is a 2018 conversation with The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, where she said “white people crying actually was the goal” of her film The Hate U Give. The quote has been taken out of context and used to weaponize negative feedback aimed at The Acolyte. You can see Amandla Stenberg’s Instagram post below.
Amandla Stenberg describes using The Force on Star Wars: The Acolyte set
In an exclusive interview with ComicBook about Star Wars: The Acolyte, Stenberg spoke about showcasing her Force powers in an unconventional physical way.
“It is the coolest thing ever,” Stenberg said in our interview, which you can check out above. “And there’s so many things to think about when you think about Force wielding, because we almost get a lot of creative freedom, particularly with this character, around what that looks like for her, because she’s not a Jedi and she’s not strictly a Sith. So I thought a lot about my hand positioning, I talked about [it] a lot with my master Lou who taught me all my stunt choreography. For me, I thought it would be more interesting… This movement is utilized often and it’s the way you’re maintaining chi and balance. But I thought for Mae, having it be a little crooked, a little more twisted, would make more sense for her.”
What is Star Wars: The Acolyte about?
Set during The High Republic, Star Wars: The Acolyte delivers an investigation into a mysterious string of crimes, which pits a Jedi master against his former apprentice in a race to uncover the truth. The more that the pair learn about the situation, the darker their journey becomes, as they confront things that darker than either of them could have imagined.
The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss. Star Wars: The Acolyte premiered on Disney+ on June 4th.
Photo credit via Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
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