THE ACOLYTE Star Amandla Stenberg Talks Toxic Negative Backlash and Welcoming Constructive Criticism
The new Star Wars series The Acolyte has been met with a lot of different opinions from fans and some of those opinions get downright nasty, while others offer constructive criticism.
Series star Amandla Stenberg recently opened up on some of the negative backlash she's faced for taking on the lead role in the series, and while she condemns those who go full dark side, she welcomes constructive criticism.
During a recent appearance on The View, she addressed what she's previously described as "intolerable racism.”
She explained: "It’s been very painful to me. It's not something that I think you can emotionally prepare for. [We] welcome criticism of the show when it comes to storytelling or performance. But when it comes to death threats, horrific, violent racist language, it’s unacceptable to me."
Yeah, that kind of crap is uncalled for. I’ve always said that the backbone of any form of movie or TV show is that the story is good and the character development is strong. That’s what I am looking for, and this series isn’t doing it for me. But, I don’t wish harm to any of the actors or members of the creative team.
Stenberg went on to say: "And I’ve had to think really deep and hard about when you display discipline and when you display honor.
“And I guess what I mean by that is when do you decide to utilize discipline to not engage in a reactive way to hatred and when do you decide to engage in honor by honoring your values and your belief system."
She then referred to a music video shared on her social media accounts last month saying: "In this case, I decided that was the most important thing to me, to be vocal because I think that silence can send a message as well. And inaction can be very dangerous."
She continued: "And so, well, I dropped a diss track...I dropped a diss track about it...and it’s called 'Discourse' and it really is about, of course, what I’ve been experiencing, but it’s also about the divisiveness of the culture and how difficult for all of us now to navigate information in this new era. It’s so difficult to tell what is true, you know, online."
The actress added: "These online algorithms they shape our realities and our thinking and clickbait journalism and these algorithms also profit from our rage and our hatred.
“And I feel like that’s something we are aware of, but we don’t necessarily have enough discourse or infrastructure around because it’s so new."
The Acolyte is described as “a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.” The High Republic is set 100 years before the Skywalker Saga begins.
Steinberg plays a former Padawan and dangerous warrior who is hunting down and killing Jedi. In the story, “An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Stenberg).
“As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems…."