After years of taking heat over acting roles that some think were meant for dark-skinned women, Amandla Stenberg spoke out in a 9-minute TikTok.
The actress, 26, who's shown her consciousness about racism for the better part of a decade, posted the video on Monday, just days after being announced as a star of Children of Blood and Bone.
In the upcoming film adaptation of the 2018 Tomi Adeyemi novel, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, Stenberg will play Princess Amari, the sister of Inan, who will be played by Damson Idris.
The movie, also starring Thuso Mbedu, Tosin Cole, Viola Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Cynthia Erivo, is slated for release on Jan. 15, 2027.
But as Princess Amari is written as an African woman who has darker skin, the casting of Stenberg prompted outrage on social media, similar to criticism she faced for her role in The Hate U Give. The actress has also received racist comments and death threats over her roles in The Acolyte and the first Hunger Games.
“I am four months into training for ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ and I am getting my ass whooped,” Stenberg joked in the TikTok below.
Stenberg, who's of African-American and Danish descent, said she wanted to address the "perception" that she steals roles from dark-skinned actresses.
"I've been through a lot of shit, y'all," she continued. "This year was mostly defined for me, honestly, by contending with what it felt like to receive racist death threats just for existing in the Star Wars universe, and that was a really difficult thing for me to move through.
"But honestly, it feels so much more painful for me to feel like I’m at odds with my own community," she added.
Stenberg stressed that she thinks about her casting decisions with "every choice" that she makes.
"I would never navigate my career blindly and ignorantly, not thinking about my skin tone or the space that I occupy," she added. "I would never go after a role that I didn't feel like was right for me to chase."
The actress then broke down the controversy behind her being cast in The Hate U Give, as she was compared to the dark-skinned illustrated protagonist on the cover of the young adult novel.
Stenberg said upon being cast as Princess Amari in Blood and Bone, she researched a picture of the character, whom she felt "perfectly suited" to portray.
The actress said that in the book, characters with skin tones similar to hers are the "ruling class" who oppress dark-skinned characters for their "magical capabilities."
"So, I thought to myself, not only do I fit this character description, but my skin tone actually serves the story in supporting the allegory of colorism and oppression," she said.
But it was upon meeting Adeyemi that Stenberg felt a confirmation that she was right for the role.
"She goes, 'Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in ‘The Hunger Games,’ and people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl—that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them,'" Stenberg explained. “We started crying, and I said to myself, 'God wants me here.'"
The explanation still offended some on social media who accused Stenberg of being tone-deaf.
In 2018, Stenberg shared that she walked away from a Black Panther casting opportunity for the role of Shuri, noting her light-skinned privilege.
"One of the most challenging things for me to do was to walk away from 'Black Panther',” Stenberg told CBC at the time. "I got really, really close and they were like, 'Do you want to continue fighting for this?' And I was like, this isn’t right."
