The Acolyte wrapped up its first season in July, but it’s not leaving the spotlight due to its cancellation. While poor viewership is mostly to blame, the amount of hatred online didn’t help matters. Now, one of the stars of the show, Jodie Turner-Smith, is blasting Disney for remaining silent.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to talk about Star Wars without talking about the vocal minority of people who spew racist comments online. Amandla Stenberg discussed it at length following The Acolyte‘s cancellation, and, of course, rather than looking in the mirror, a lot of so-called “fans” doubled down, coming after the star of the show even harder. Turner-Smith, who played Mother Aniseya in the Disney+ series, took notice and isn’t happy about Disney failing to come to the aid of their stars.
“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting fu**ing dog-piled on the internet with racism and bull**it,” Turner-Smith told Glamour. “It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”
Related: Star Wars Outlaws and The Acolyte Share One Major Issue
She took things a step further, though, imploring Disney to condemn all the unacceptable comments. “It would just be nice if the people that have all the money were showing their support and putting their feet down,” she added. “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.”
The strangest part about all this is that what Turner-Smith is calling for isn’t abnormal for Disney. Following racist comments made about Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram in 2022, the official Star Wars Twitter account supported her by releasing a statement. “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist,” the post read.
It’s unclear why this luxury doesn’t extend to the cast of The Acolyte, but one potential theory is that the powers that be are trying to scrub their hands of the whole thing. After all, all of the show’s merchandise was pulled from the Disney Store before being added back following fan backlash.
The Acolyte is streaming now on Disney+.
Published: Oct 7, 2024 08:50 am