‘The Acolyte’ Actress Blames Disney For Not Standing Up To ‘Racism’ From Fans

The recently canceled Disney+ series “The Acolyte,” set in the “Star Wars” universe, was a perfect microcosm of everything wrong with the modern entertainment industry, those who work in it, and the declining standards for content. It was a poorly conceived show by someone who clearly had no awareness or interest in “Star Wars” as a franchise. It was poorly executed, with bizarre plot points, amateurish writing, and acting ranging from mediocre to abysmal. 

Fans understandably, did not respond well to yet another disappointing product coming out of Lucasfilm in the Disney era. After a decent start with streaming figures, the show lost viewers in each successive episode, with just a 13% positive rating on the Rotten Tomatoes audience score.

Few companies, if any, would have continued pouring money into a show that few watched and even less enjoyed. But don’t tell the “talent” involved that the cancelation was an obvious business decision. To them, it was Disney’s fault for not standing up to “racism” from fans who dared not to like the show.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 03: (L-R) Leslye Headland, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Amandla Stenberg, and Margarita Levieva attend Disney+ and The Cinema Society host a screening of “The Acolyte” at The Whitby Hotel on June 03, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

‘The Acolyte’ Actress Shows Profound Ignorance With Fan Criticism

Jodie Turner-Smith played Mother Aniseya in “The Acolyte,” the head of a coven of lesbian space witches. Seriously. And like her co-star, Amandla Stenberg, she too signed up to the “blame everyone every” school of celebrity. After “The Acolyte” was canceled, Stenberg released a video saying that “hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language” was responsible for Disney’s decision.

Turner-Smith agrees. In a recent interview with Glamour UK, she said that Disney didn’t support them: “It’s disappointing to feel like your studio is not having your back in a very public-facing way,” she said.

“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f***** dog-piled on the internet with racism and bulls***,” Tuner-Smith continued. “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, according to Variety. “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.”

“We’re gonna get there at some point, to that place where people stop having a stick up their [ass] about people of color being a part of IPs that were created by white people,” she said. “You know why? Because we’re never going to f***** stop participating.”

There may not be a better summary of the awe-inspiring, self-indulgent ignorance of modern Hollywood than this. “The Acolyte” failed because it was a show targeted at an audience that didn’t exist. And even for that nonexistent “woke” audience, it was an abysmal, poorly written and poorly acted slog. Of course there are some racist fans who engage in unacceptable behavior toward celebrities. But the overwhelming majority, 99% in fact, of the discussion around the show was that it completely failed as a “Star Wars” property.

If you want to make woke content for an infinitesimal audience, go for it. But then create your own original work. Don’t put it in a beloved franchise with decades of history and millions of fans. And then be stunned when no one watches. 

That’s the problem that Turner-Smith and those like her don’t understand. In her bubble, everyone is like her. When the world rejects her views, she has no option but to blame “racism.” Because that’s what her friends and co-stars do too. It isn’t Disney’s fault that they didn’t speak up to condemn people not liking their show. It’s Disney’s fault for allowing the show to be made in the first place.