There have always been toxic elements to every fandom, but over the past few years, we have seen an increase in targetted online abuse, with many "fans" taking their criticism way too far by spewing bile at the people involved with the movies and TV shows they claim to love.
Star Wars has been hit particularly hard, with the perception that Disney is pushing a "woke agenda" by shifting focus to Black, female, and LGBTQ+ characters in their projects leading to some shockingly hateful backlash.
As a gay Black woman, The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg has found herself in the firing line since before the show even aired, but the harassment escalated when an out-of-context clip of the actress saying "white people crying was the goal" on a 2018 talk show did the rounds last week.
Now, Stenberg has released a new music video in response.
"Happy Juneteenth 🖤," she captioned her post. "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!!"
Have a look at the video at the link below, and let us know what you think in the comments section.
In The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.
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.
Leslye Headland created the series, based on Star Wars by George Lucas, and serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers. Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim and Rob Bredow are the producers.
Headland also directed the premiere episodes (Eps. 101 & 102). Directors Kogonada (Eps. 103 & 107), Alex Garcia Lopez (Eps. 104 & 105) and Hanelle Culpepper (Eps. 106 & 108) round out the directing duties on the series.
"I really wanted to tell a story about the Sith," showrunner Headland told EW in a recent interview. "That was kind of my dream Star Wars idea. But it felt like the time period to do that in would be something pre-Phantom Menace. That seemed to be the most interesting trajectory for the Sith: How did the Sith go from the Rule of Two and being quote-unquote 'extinct' to Palpatine coming into power without the Jedi knowing about it?"
Award-winning composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Get Out and Us, scored The Acolyte.