The Disney Plus series The Acolyte aimed to take the Star Wars franchise into a new direction with a time period never before seen in live-action. The series received mixed-to-negative reactions from fans, however, and it was canceled following the release of its first and only season. Now The Acolyte star Jodie Turner-Smith blames Disney for allowing the online bullying of their show’s cast and crew.
For example, The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg has been previously quite vocal about the backlash she’s received from toxic fans on social media. This backlash has extended itself to Jodie Turner-Smith, and as such, she feels as though it’s Disney’s fault for allowing such behavior continue.
Turner-Smith, who played Mother Aniseya in the series, started her statement by saying Disney did not defend Stenberg in “a very public-facing way.” She adds that Stenberg “put so much care and thought and love” into the series. As such, she had this to say about Disney via Glamour UK:
“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 bullshit,” Turner-Smith said. “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,” she added. “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.”
On that note, Turner-Smith doesn’t think they’d lose any money. In fact, she believes “people of color” would be more than happy to support the company.
“Because people of color, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power,” she said. “They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”
We’ll have to see how Disney continues to address such backlash to their projects. The Acolyte has been canceled, though backlash against cast or crew on these productions has been present for a very long time. As such, one can hope that the toxic behavior from certain groups of fans will stop, or at the very least, that Disney will try to be more openly considerate of their employees that are facing bullying – much like the cast of The Acolyte.