Amandla Stenberg Says ‘The Acolyte’ Cancellation Was Not A ‘Shock’ Due To ‘Hyper-Conservative Bigotry & Vitrol’ From ‘Star Wars’ Fans

Amandla Stenberg

Amandla Stenberg Says ‘The Acolyte’ Cancellation Was Not A ‘Shock’ Due To ‘Hyper-Conservative Bigotry & Vitrol’ From ‘Star Wars’ Fans

Actress Amandla Sternberg is speaking out following the cancellation of her latest series The Acolyte.

The 25-year-old expressed her belief that racism and “vitriol” were a huge reason why Disney axed the Star Wars installment, admitting that she’s been battling hate since she landed the role.

Amandla Stenberg

Via her Instagram Stories, Amandla Stenberg addressed Disney announcing the series will end with its season 1 finale, which aired back in July, stating:

“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me,”

She continued:

“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

Going on, the movie star admitted that the racially charged hate did affect her in the beginning. Noting that she’s worked through a lot of her experience, however, she added:

“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.”

Amandla Stenberg

The Acolyte made its debut back in June of this year and is one of many spin-offs to the popular ever-growing Star Wars franchise. Stenberg stars as separated twins Osha and Mae in a prequel that followed the rise of the Sith, roughly 100 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.

While the show garnered positive reviews from critics upon its release, it was unfortunately the victim of review bombing. As previously covered, a group of angry franchise fans protesting Stenberg’s casting – seemingly due to her identity in the LGBTQ community – caused the show’s audience Rotten Tomatoes approval rating to sit an alarming 14% (up to 18% at the time of this report).

Actor John Boyega faced a similar kind of racially charged backlash from the franchise’s fans throughout his time starring in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Despite the disappointment of a cancellation, Stenberg maintained a sense of accomplishment and thanked the show’s supporters, stating later in the video:

“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.”

Do you agree with Amandla Sternberg’s thoughts? Tell us in the comments below!