Thandiwe Newton Faces Backlash After She Apologizes to Darker-Skinned Actresses for Not Representing Them

Emmy Award-Winning Actress Thandiwe Newton is faced with kickback after she collapsed discussing the topic of colorism in Hollywood and dealing with how her light skin tone has brought her both privilege and prejudice. During the conversation, The Westworld star apologized to dark-skinned actresses for taking “their roles, their men,” but her confession garnered mixed reactions.

Newton is currently promoting her new movie “God’s Country,” in which she plays a 40-year-old grieving professor who confronts two white hunters who enter her property. The film is based on James Lee Burke’s short story “Winter Light”, in which the protagonist of the story is an elderly, weathered white man instead of a black woman.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 29: Thandiwe Newton attends the Gotham Awards 2021 presented by the Gotham Film & Media Institute on November 29, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Gotham Film & Media Institute)

During an interview of Sky News admitted to the English and Zimbabwean actress that she almost didn’t take the job because she didn’t think she was dark enough. However, she shared that taking on the role helped her overcome many of her own prejudices before apologizing to dark-skinned actresses for being “the chosen one.”

“I now realize that my internalized biases kept me from feeling like I could play this role when it’s exactly that bias I’ve been given. It doesn’t matter that it’s more African American women than African American women. anyone,” she said. “I got prejudice. Anyone who has received oppression and prejudice feels this character.”

Newton also acknowledged how dark women might see her opportunities and tearfully revealed, “I’ve wanted so desperately to apologize every day to dark-skinned actresses. To say, ‘I’m sorry I’m the chosen one.’ My mother looks like you.” She added: “It’s been very painful for women who look like my mother to feel like I don’t represent them. I take them from them. Taking their husbands, taking their jobs, taking their truth.”

Newton’s comments, however, provoked mixed reactions from critics who almost immediately took to their social media platforms and criticized the actress for her comment, including one Twitter user who stated: “Thandiwe Newton said to “take their men” when she was married. with a white man since 1998 SENDS me.”

“The point is, we know about racism and colorism in TV/Hollywood, we know why fair/mixed women are more likely to be cast,” commented another person. “No one personally blamed Thandiwe Newton or expected her to take responsibility. So my question is why. As if it was so unnecessary and yielded nothing.”

Still, many people defended the actress, including one person who wrote: “Stop condemning Thandi. She didn’t ask to be bi-racial, nor for the privileges that came with that institution. The fact that the penny is finally hers.” is something to celebrate, not mock, we all learn at different times and speeds.”

Elsewhere, Newton noted that the woman in “God’s Country” was named Sandra after Sandra Bland — the 28-year-old black woman who was found dead in a Texas jail cell days after her arrest for a minor traffic violation in 2015 — further motivating her to take the plunge. take on a role.

“For a good five (years), I have supported Kimberly Crenshaw’s work with the African American Policy Forum and the ‘Say Her Name’ movement, which she created,” Newton said. “And in this film, we say her name from the start. I don’t just mean Sandra Bland. I’m talking about all ‘Sandra Blands’. Now and then.”

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