Star Wars: The Acolyte, Disney’s most recent addition to its Star Wars television universe, proved to be a disappointment for the company – costing over $230 million to produce and quickly being canceled after the show’s release due to low viewership not only was it disappointing for the company, but many fans took to the internet in droves to bash the series. According to ComicBook, one of the show’s stars, Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim, After Yang), commented on the show’s controversy, citing “racism” from the fanbase upon the show’s cast members.
Turner-Smith plays Mother Aniseya in the series, with her character appearing in three episodes. In her comments to Glamour via ComicBook, she was particularly enraged with Disney’s reaction to the series and how the actors were being treated after the show’s premiere.
She stated in the interview with Glamour, “They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f*****g dog-piled on the internet with racism and bulls**t…It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair…It would just be nice if the people that have all the money were showing their support and putting their feet down. Say this is unacceptable: ‘You’re not a fan if you do this.’ Make a really big statement and just see if any money leaves. I bet you it won’t, because people of color, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power. They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”
However, the actress does have hope that people‘s opinions can change around the subject later on, stating, “were gonna get there at some point, to that place where people stop having a stick up their arse about people of color being a part of IPs that were created by white people.’ We don’t get to fail upwards like a lot of white men,” Turner-Smith added. “I just feel that some people are allowed to grow and others have to be perfect, and if they’re not perfect – even when it’s great – people want to f*****g tear it apart,” according to ComicBook.
Unfortunately for Disney, Star Wars: The Acolyte isn’t the only recent Star Wars project to be met with negative viewership. In alignment with Turner-Smith’s comments, much of the discourse around the underwhelming Star Wars viewership aligns with a culture war of differences between the fan base and the content of the shows.