I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me [when ‘The Acolyte’ was canceled]. There has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it. That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language towards us.
Amandla Stenberg sharing on her Instagram Stories about how toxic anti-woke warriors worked to get ‘The Acolyte’ canceled on Disney+ after just one season.
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. … 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.
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.
in quotes
Amandla Stenberg says anti-woke warriors & “hyper-conservative bigotry” helped get ‘The Acolyte’ canceled
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RickHeathen
The right wing wants total domination. They wouldn’t be happy with 95% of series being strictly about straight people, or happy with 98% or 99.9% of series. They want it all. And yet, I hear claims all the time that they don’t care what LGBTQ people do. They must mean they don’t care as long as it’s hidden from view and treated as shameful.
Diplomat
Dear Editors: Acolyte?
dmarcus
The show was not good. It was poorly written and had too many ideas to explore them. None of that is the cast fault. They did a good job for what was given to them. When Star Wars does something new outside of Skywalker saga, fans don’t watch it or b*tch about it. The hate that any IP has when there’s a female lead, a poc character, or an LGBTQ actor in a role is absurd and out of nowhere. The Acolyte made no mention of race, sexuality, or gender because that’s not what the show is about or its purpose. It’s about the formation of the Sith who happens to have a diverse cast. The conservatives who hate on the mere existence of ppl should be condemned. When Charlie Barnett, an out actor, was casted homophobes and conservatives were up in arms about him. His character is not gay nor did it point out that he is black. The hate of diverse ppl existing is infuriating when what we should be focusing on is the story. I really feel like the creators were trying to tell a good story but they didn’t succeed.
PQ
dmarcus, that’s such a good assessment of the situation. So much of what the show runner was doing was still super coded and subtle. It just happened to be a bunch of diverse people in the Star Wars world doing normal Star Wars things and occasionally the lead character offering the most gentle and quick hint of flirtation to her female co star.
RIGay
Her lousy acting in, yet another piece of stale, Disney shill schlock had nothing to do with it.
The mystique of Star Wars is gone. Been run into the ground.
eireapparent
If that’s what she needs to sleep at night. But it was awful. Bad writing, directing, acting, and cheap production values all conspired with a total disregard of the source material. Like with Marvel Disney commodified a successful franchise to near extinction. Now both franchises have had to rein in their efforts and refocus on quality instead of quantity because the fans of these works actually care about the material.
War On Free Speech
@RickHeathen
“The right wing wants total domination.”
Like trying repeatedly to jail your political opposition? Or perhaps, trying to cancel the ONLY right-of-center news broadcaster? Or threats of packing the Supreme Court? etc.
RickHeathen
@WarOnFreeSpeech
If Trump wouldn’t do illegal things, he wouldn’t get into trouble. That’s to do with the DOJ, not “the left” in general as it is with the right wing. I know nothing about any broadcaster, but the Republicans lied and stalled Obama’s ability to appoint a supreme court judge. “You can’t do that in the last year of office.” Sure, unless he’s Republican, and then they can do whatever they want. I’m sick of hearing the blather from the right. The future is coming, and it’s not going to look like a combination of various points of the past referred to as “the good ol’ days” enjoyed by the right. Learn to live with it, because ultimately the future always wins.
SFMike
It sad that Amandla Stenberg is so self possessed that she doesn’t realize that one of the main reasons the show was so bad was her bland non-existent acting abilities that had her making TWO characters monumentally boring is one of the main reasons this show tanked. I really wonder if she actually watched the whole show postproduction. Poorly written, directed and extremely poorly paced, made one not want to spend any more time than they had to suffering through this big budget amateur hour of a ill-conceived “Star Wars” feminist spin-off. The viewing public said no thanks and trying to shame them into supporting coma inducing 3rd rate crap is not a way to gain future viewership.
barryaksarben
Id love to say I was shocked to see all this racism. I for one thoroughly enjoyed the show. you want to talk bad acting all you have to do is go back the the very first Star Wars and watch mark Hamill, thank gof. d he has improved. And Jake LOyyld anyone, and Jar jar (the realism there was too obvious they should have just named him step and fetch it) I liked the whole guilt carried by the Jedi who actually destroyed the witches instead of all the white knight bs. that kept nerds arguing still about Hans maybe shooting first in the cantina scene. Im pised I won’t get to see more of these characters. I agree 100% with Rick Heathen when he talks of the right demand for total control of entertainment and all they have to do is play on white people racism or their fear of gay and lesbian storylines. Do you really think the Leia and Luke kiss wasn’t just an oversight and BAD WRITING? the second three movies ALL SUCKED donkey.
War On Free Speech
@RickHeathen
“If Trump wouldn’t do illegal things, he wouldn’t get into trouble.”
The same can be said for Martin Luther King, Jr. as he was also jailed by Democrats 29 times. Democrats will jail their opposition on nothing in the 1960’s just like they do today. Luckily, most of us see right through it.
RickHeathen
@WarOnFreeSpeech
Conveniently—as usual—you Republicans forget. MLKJ was last arrested on April 12, 1963.
According to “StudentOfHistory.com”…
[The Civil Rights Movement
Race and equality began to return to the center of politics in the 1950s and 1960s. Race did not necessarily fall into a party viewpoint at this point; instead, it was more of a regional issue. Southern Democrats and Republicans both opposed the early Civil Rights Movement, while Northern Democrats and Republicans began to support legislation as the movement picked up steam.
In 1964, Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. In the 1964 election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater publicly opposed the new law, arguing that it expanded the power of the federal government to a dangerous level.
It was this argument that led to a final, decisive switch. Black voters, who had historically been loyal to the Republican Party because of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, had already been switching to the Democratic Party.
However, upon hearing Goldwater’s argument against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the majority of Black voters left the Republican Party in favor of the Democrats. They saw the Democratic Party as advocates for equality and justice, while the Republicans were too concerned with keeping the status quo in America.
As the 60s and 70s continued, Democrats sought reform in other places, such as abortion and school prayer. White southern Democrats began to resent how much the Democratic Party was intervening into the rights of the people.
By the 1980s, white southern Democrats had become Republicans, and the majority of the south was now Republican. The Republican Party now is solidly conservative while the Democratic Party is the liberal one.]
Don’t give me that “Democrats did this that and the other thing” ages ago malarkey.
War On Free Speech
You totally missed my point.
Anyway …
A larger percentage of Republicans voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act than Democrats. That would also include Democrat Al Gore, Sr. who voted against it.
Don’t give me the “parties switched” lie. That is what you have to tell yourself when you are the party that supported slavery, Jim Crow, the KKK, etc.
abfab
@War
You never have a point. There was nothing for him to miss.