“The Acolyte” star Amandla Stenberg dropped a new song and music video on Wednesday in response to the many racist comments she’s received since the show’s debut.
Stenberg released the song on Juneteenth on her Instagram account following the premiere of “The Acolyte” Episode 4.
“Happy Juneteenth,” she wrote in the caption. “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!”
The Disney+ Star Wars series is the first to take place in The High Republic, 100 years before the beginning of the prequel series. Stenberg pulls double duty playing twins Osha and Mae – one on either end of the light side/dark side line. Despite positive reviews from critics, the series has been review bombed to be the lowest rated Star Wars property, even lower than the universally maligned “Star Wars Holiday Special.”
Some of the fans have complained about the fluctuating canon the show may or may not be creating, while others appear to be lashing out in spite. Stenberg’s lyrics address the backlash and racist comments.
Verse: “I’m going viral on Twitter again / open up the news to find some interesting things / 20 million views / interview from 2018 / with Trevor the king when I was a teen / I was running from city to city to speak on a story / you know the one: police murdering a black boy / my people cried in theaters finding release / white people cried they could see us as human beings / Trevor ask what I want the people to know / I say white people crying was the goal / If they could take one thing what would it be? / I say empathy / ooooo that’s why they mad at me? / they splice lines make hate they recognize / make it look like the same propaganda they spew / cuz they conflate our pain with violence / and try to weaponize everything that we do / the desperation of oppressors is rising / and now they holding onto any of thing they can use / If you rely upon misinformation / that tells me you’re afraid of the truth.”
Chorus: “We so bored don’t f–k with yo discourse.”
Verse: “And now you listening imma tell you something fascinating / they spinning WOKE bastardize it and appropriate it / last I recall WOKE was something we created / speak truth to power / keep an eye out for you silly racists / and now they use it to describe anything they threatened by / remember when Gambino put it in the zeitgeist? / it was all about the people recognizing bigotry / the power of community / not fodder for your clickbait / speaking of which journalists I’m looking at you / did you forget it’s your job to provide the truth? / spreading divisiveness mining the metrics and date / seem you gave up all your ethics for money and views / and I can tell that the people are tired / and the kids don’t trust anything that they view / we can learn something from their discernment / the future’s coming and it’s always the youth.”
This is far from the first time the Star Wars fandom has turned vicious. John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran both received volumes of hate for “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi.” In 2022, Moses Ingram dealt with racist comments for her role in “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+.
You can watch Stenberg’s full song below.
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