Thandiwe Newton is getting candid.
The actress is opening up about the backlash, privilege, and guilt she has experienced as a fair-skinned Black actress in the film industry.
More details below…
In an interview with The Associated Press, she discussed the impact of prejudice within her film ‘God’s Country’ and opened up about the prejudice she has received.
“I now realize that my internalized prejudice was stopping me from feeling like I could play this role when it’s precisely that prejudice that I’ve received. It doesn’t matter that it’s from African American women more than anyone else. I received prejudice. Anyone who’s received oppression and prejudice feels this character.”
“I’ve wanted so desperately to apologize every day to darker-skinned actresses. To say, ‘I’m sorry that I’m the one chosen.’ My Mama looks like you.”
“It’s been very painful to have women who look like my mom feel like I’m not representing them. That I’m taking from them. Taking their men, taking their work, taking their truth.”
Thandiwe Newton plays a woman confronting white hunters in the Sundance film “God’s Country.” She says she’s struggled with a different type of prejudice in the U.S. as a light-skinned Black British actor. pic.twitter.com/mAccJ9rA5s
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) February 2, 2022
Newton is billed in the movie with the traditional Zulu name Thandiwe as opposed to the Hollywood-friendly “Thandie.”
She also recently revealed to Indiewire, that ‘God’s Country’ that this role defines who she wants to be as an actress and that it is finally a role that is meaningful.
I get what she’s trying to say, but that wasn’t the right way to say it. If she was going to address this, it should’ve been a prepared statement because this is…not it.
Right!
The pandering is so stupid.
Thandie u should take this fight to the executives in suits and casting directors. u are not the problem. U dont have any power or control over any of these things.
They are tearing her apart on Twitter. People are misunderstanding her and the message she is trying to pass across.
She was emotional that’s why she didn’t word she was feeling properly
Y’all need to stop hating on light skinned women 💅🏾 She absolutely did nothing wrong. See, Black people even give their own people hard time. Messssss
She has nothing to apologize for. She’s not the problem, the system is. She’s a gifted actor who has never shied away from roles deeply entrenched in the black experience from Beloved, to Colored Girls and now God’s Country. She has opened more doors for black women in the industry than she has slammed close. Your filmography speaks for itself and don’t worry about the reaction, anyone with common sense knows her statement is one of empathy and compassion: the internet is always going to internet.
Who ever wrote this was reaching. She didn’t apologize she just said what felt about her.
IF she doesn’t want to take “Their Roles, Their Men” then don’t simple!
No one including Thandiwe should downplay their own intellect, their beauty OR personal abilities for someone else to have a chance of success. It’s a dog eat dog world & only the strong survive…PERIOD!
If you truly feel the current world is flawed, create a world that’s even better. That’s what men have been doing for thousands of years. Once upon a time, the Goddesses played a central role until the real queens [the men] said no Ma’am because they wanted to adorn they mans, like the boys do nowadays. 💅🏽
No shade.
This is utterly ridiculous and a bit contrived on her part. The casting director decides who gets the roles. If she’d refused, they would have chosen somone else with a similar look. Her apology means nothing.