Amandla Stenberg isn't surprised The Acolyte was cancelled after just one season following a "rampage of vitriol" over its inclusive messaging.
The 25-year-old actress led the cast of the Star Wars spin-off as both Osha and Mae, twin warriors in training on opposite sides of the Force, and she has hit out at the "bigotry and hateful language" she and her co-stars received when the show aired.
In videos shared to her Instagram Story, Amandla said: "I'm gonna be transparent and say it's not a huge shock for me. For those who aren't aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was announced...
"We started experiencing a rampage of, I would say hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred, and hateful language towards us.
"This really affected me when I first got the job, because even though I anticipated it happening, it's not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it happens to you."
Amandla — who uses both female and gender-neutral pronouns — felt it was important to address the backlash and honour their own "ethics and belief system" by doing so.
"It became inarguable for me at a certain point that in order to continue to be myself, I would have to honour my value system by being vocal, even within the context of working for Disney and working within the large, massive IP that is Star Wars...
"For me it became a situation where there was no option but for me to honour my sense of ethics and belief system."
She took the time to thank those who had supported the show, admitting they had made it a "worthwhile" experience".
She said: "It has been an incredible honour and dream for me to be in this universe.
"Of course, I'm very sad about the show being cancelled. … 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."
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