Jodie Turner-Smith is standing her ground. The actress, known for her role as Mother Aniseya in Disney’s The Acolyte, addressed the racism and hate she and her fellow co-stars of color faced during the show’s brief run.
In an interview with Glamour UK, Turner-Smith criticized the network for their alleged lack of support amid the controversy.
“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f—ing dog-piled on the internet with racism and bulls—,” she said of Disney’s silence. “It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”
Turner-Smith added, “It would just be nice if the people that have all the money – whether that be Disney or any studio – were showing their support and putting their feet down. Say this is unacceptable: ‘You’re not a fan if you do this.’”
The actress “bet” that Disney wouldn’t see “any money leave” if they made a “really big statement” speaking out about the matter. She noted how people of color, “especially Black people,” make up a large percentage of consumer buying power.
“They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word,” she continued.
Turner-Smith’s allegations mirror those of her former co-star, Amandla Stenberg, who previously spoke about receiving hate from parts of the Star Wars fanbase.
In a series of Instagram Stories in August, Stenberg, 25, expressed sadness over the cancellation of The Acolyte after just one season, though she noted she wasn’t surprised by the decision.
“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me,” she admitted. “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 noted that The Acolyte faced backlash even before its release due to its decision to cast women and people of color in lead roles.
“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,” she said. “However, I feel like I’ve kind of moved through those feelings in various ways, including being vocal about it myself.”
She continued: “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.”
