Amandla Stenberg Says ‘The Acolyte’ Cancellation Was Not a ‘Shock’ Due to ‘Alt-Right’ Hate Toward the Series

Samantha Bergeson
·3 min read
38

Amandla Stenberg was not surprised that “The Acolyte” was canceled by Disney+, despite its viral buzz and strong reviews.

Lead star Stenberg shared on social media that she was bracing for the show to be canceled as the series was plagued by racist hatred from the “alt-right” for years even prior to premiering. The series was created by Leslye Headland and starred Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Lee Jung-jae. The show charted the resurgence of the Sith in the “Star Wars” universe a century before the events of “The Phantom Menace.”

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“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me,” Stenberg said in the below video about the series’ cancellation. “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.”

Stenberg continued, “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.”

“The Acolyte” was review-bombed with “Star Wars” fans posting negative reviews to protest the show. Of course, the “Star Wars” franchise has been infamous for dealing with racist fans, with franchise alums John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran enduring online hate.

Unfortunately, Stenberg says she also experienced this harassment and “targeted attacks” from the “alt-right” political group.

“Of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled,” Stenberg said. “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.”

Read IndieWire’s Christian Blauvelt analysis of what the cancellation of “The Acolyte” means for the future of “Star Wars” here.

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