If you were online this summer, you’ve seen the backlash towards the Star Wars series The Acolyte. With those hate comments and subpar ratings, it’s no surprise that Disney decided against a second season. One person who is not shocked by that is the lead performer, Amandla Stenberg.
Starring as twins Mae and Osha, Stenberg took the brunt of the hate. The actress took to their social media to reveal their feelings on everything, including the backlash and cancellation.
Stenberg confesses, “I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me. There has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced… a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language towards us.”
“This really affected me when I first got the job. Because it’s just not something – even though I anticipated it happening – it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you. However, I feel like I’ve kind of moved through those feelings in various ways, including being vocal about it myself,” states Stenberg. “…It just became inarguable for me, at a certain point, that in order to continue to be myself, I would have to honor my value system by being vocal even in the context of working for Disney.”
The actress remains steadfast in their work however: “It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. Of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled.… I just want to let those people know out there who supported us in that way and supported us vocally – despite and in the face of all of the vitriol that we received and the kind of the targeted attack, I would say, we received by the alt-right – just that you were deeply loved and appreciated. And it made this job all the worthwhile for me.”
What are your thoughts on The Acolyte? Would you have liked to see a second season? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
You can still stream The Acolyte on Disney+.
