Yahya Abdul-Mateen II speaks out after Marvel's #WonderMan gets canceled despite a previous Season 2 renewal:
"That’s life, right? Everything will shake out. I wanted to say thank you to everybody who WATCHED the show, ENJOYED the show, and SHARED that they enjoyed the show in some way or other. The show worked. And that’s my favorite thing about it. I could see it on the faces of the YouTube Reactors (because I watched along with y’all this time. Shout out to y’all) and I can see in the messages I get saying how the show reminded some of you not to give up, and I feel it in the genuine love shared when I bump into some of you all during the day. So, thinking of you all today. I’m glad we got to be a part of something cool. Thank you for watching… And uhh… See you at the EMMYS."
https://t.co/dkqgyYwzys
Letitia Wright is British-Guyanese and plays Shuri who is T’Challa’s sister, Lupita Nyong’o is Kenyan and plays Nakia who is Tchalla's love interest, Winston Duke is Trinidadian and plays M’Baku who is the leader of the Jabari tribe, Danai Gurira is Zimbabwean and plays Okoye who is the head of the Dora Milaje; the only black American actors in the main cast are Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, most of the main cast isn’t American at all yet people are outraged that a British-African actor is stepping into the role of T’Challa. Mind you, T’Challa’s own sister is played by a British-Guyanese woman and no one has a problem with that, funny how that works.
There are really only two reasons people are this mad:
1. Even in a movie explicitly centered around Africa & Africans, with the lead character being a black African king, a lot of you still expect actual Africans to remain in the background because you see continental Africans as inferior sub-humans, you’re fine with a fictional African nation as long as it stays a fantasy you can romanticize, but the moment a real African actor plays an African king who is the main character, it ruins the illusion.
Wakanda is advanced, wealthy, and technologically superior, seeing a real African in that role forces you to confront the fact that the actual continent that you despise so much doesn’t look like that and a lot of you can’t handle that reminder, you want the fictional glory but you don’t want real Africans front & center because it interferes with the image you’ve built. You xenophobes are in constant competition with white people and that is what it all boils down too, it's fking sad.
2. The actor David Jonsson is not conventionally attractive to a lot of ya'll, if he looked like Damson Idris, ya'll would've still complained but the reactions would've not been so fierce and vitriolic because Damson is a good-looking man. No matter how much you guys try to tear this man down, he is who Hollywood has picked for the new black Panther and ain't shyt ya'll can do about it, no one cares if you boycott because the Earth will keep on spinning. Chadwick Boseman (may he rest in peace) would be beyond disgusted with you narcissistic, insecure losers. Ryan Coogler claimed 'FBA' and he still doesn't listen to you weirdos, he is a successful black man who can't afford to entertain a bunch of people who will never be anything in life, the fba movement has not made one single stride ever since it was created in 2019 and you guys want us to think that you have the power & momentum to force Hollywood's hand on a movie role? Fk outta here.