The Acolyte’s Jodie Turner-Smith Thinks Disney Failed Its Stars

Nearly 2 months later, Disney’s cancellation of The Acolyte still leaves a atrocious sensation successful the mouths of Star Wars fans. Some of its stars person spoken astir their feelings connected the show’s extremity aft a azygous season, and present it’s Jodie Turner-Smith (who played Aniseya, the parent of twins Mae and Osha) that had immoderate words connected the matter–and they’re not benignant toward Disney.

In a caller Glamour Magazine interview, she criticized Disney for fundamentally leaving the show’s cast—namely Amandla Stenberg, who pulled treble work arsenic the twins—to woody with weeks of racist maltreatment connected their own. Speaking bluntly, she said studios “have got to halt doing this happening wherever they don’t accidental thing erstwhile radical are getting fucking dog-piled connected the net with racism and bullshit. It would conscionable beryllium bully if the radical that person each the wealth were showing their enactment and putting their feet down.”

Speaking astir Stenberg specifically, Turner-Smith had glowing praise for the young actor, who she said “handed maine an effort connected their character. The Virgo successful maine was conscionable like, ‘Yass, I’m surviving for this!’ […] Amandla enactment truthful overmuch attraction and thought and emotion into that, and it’s disappointing to consciousness similar your workplace is not having your backmost successful a precise public-facing way.”

Star Wars and fandom harassment are aged friends, and stars similar John Boyega and Moses Ingram person been caught successful the crossfire, and portion Lucasfilm, astatine slightest initially, seemed acceptable to defend The Acolyte from akin bad-faith attacks successful the run-up to launch, some the workplace and its genitor institution Disney remained soundless arsenic the show’s formed and unit weathered aggregate waves of online abuse. At a clip erstwhile toxic fandom tin beryllium lucrative connected its own, however bash you combat that? If Turner-Smith had her way, studios would travel guardant and explicitly deem this behaviour unacceptable. To her, specified a connection wouldn’t impact the bottommost enactment that overmuch oregon astatine all, since “people of colour, and particularly Black people, marque up a precise ample percent of buying power. They mightiness find that it’s really much lucrative for them.”

Despite the atrocious concern around The Acolyte’s end, Turner-Smith hopes toxic fandoms and their racist behaviour get unopen out. “We’re gonna get determination astatine immoderate point,” she stated, “to that spot wherever radical halt having a instrumentality up their arse astir radical of colour being a portion of IPs that were created by achromatic people. You cognize why? Because we’re ne'er going to fucking halt participating.”

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