Almost 900 Black women actors have rallied to support “Romeo & Juliet” star Francesca Amewudah-Rivers.
It was recently announced that Amewudah-Rivers would be tackling the lead love interest in the William Shakespeare classic alongside Tom Holland, who will portray Romeo. Since then, Amewudah-Rivers has been the subject of shocking online racist attacks. Juliet has been played by white actresses in several adaptations of the Shakespeare playwright, which has only fueled hateful bigots.
Francesca amewudah-rivers
an Ic3 female with broad nose slated as to ugly and abused online for playing Juliet in West end play Romeo and Juliet. Many men said there's no way Romeo would kill himself over such a below average woman #RomeoAndJuliet #EclipseSolar2024 #tomholland pic.twitter.com/lBmjF2xH5N— The start, the end and the middle (@KTHELASTANGEL) April 9, 2024
Juliet is suppose to be ethereal, dainty and beautiful Francesca Amewudah-Rivers is not even objectively attractive it has nothing to do with racism some ppl are just ugly… deal with it
— 🩷✨baby girl✨🩷 (@hell0kittybimb0) April 5, 2024
https://twitter.com/FloridaManPig/status/1774936370391179477
Such attacks have motivated a wave of Black performers to support Amewudah-Rivers. This includes British actresses Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who all signed the letter titled “A Letter Of Solidarity With Our Juliet – Francesca Amewudah-Rivers.” Susan Wokoma and the writer Somalia Nonyé Seaton organized the letter, which called for fair treatment of Black women entertainers.
“When news of Francesca Amewudah-Rivers’ casting in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Romeo and Juliet was announced, so many people celebrated and welcomed this news. Many of us took to social media to shower our baby sis with love and congratulations,” the letter read, before admitting that the celebration for Amewudah-Rivers took a nasty turn rather quickly. “What followed was a too familiar horror that many of us visible Black dark skinned performers have experienced. The racist and misogynistic abuse directed at such a sweet soul has been too much to bear.”
Director Jamie Lloyd has also released a statement slamming the social media attacks. He has also declared that anyone perpetrating such hate online will be reported.
Amewudah-Rivers has turned off her Instagram comments amid the backlash.
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