Amandla Stenberg Turned Down ‘Black Panther’ Because She’s Light Skinned

By
Sasha R.
-

amandla stenberg black panther

Biracial actress Amandla Stenberg was offered a role in the blockbuster hit Black Panther, but she turned it down because she didn’t think she would fit in with the other dark-skinned actors.

“One of the most challenging things for me to do was to walk away from Black Panther. 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. These are all dark skin actors playing Africans and I feel like it would have just been off to see me as a bi-racial American with a Nigerian accent just pretending that I’m the same color as everyone else in the movie. That was really challenging, to make that decision, but I have no regrets. I recognize 100 percent that there are spaces that I should not take up and when I do take up a space it’s because I’ve thought really, really critically about it and I’ve consulted people I really trust and it feels right.” – Amandla Stenberg

Did she do the right thing?

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93 COMMENTS

  1. SHE DENIED THE PART BECAUSE SHE IS BI-RACIAL NOT SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE IS LIGHT SKINNED. I FIND IT SAID THAT NO LIGHTER SKINNED AFRICANS WERE DEPICTED IN THE MOVIE. AS WITH ANY RACE, THE SHADE RANGE GOES FROM LIGHT TO DARK. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO SEE OUR ENTIRE RACE PROPERLY REPRESENTED STILL GREAT THOUGH.

    • True but you remember that light skin african american isnt natural…you guys are heavily composed of slave massa blood. thats disturbing. And sadly most Africans dont want their kids marrying slave descendants because they see them as mongrels

        • Who would you let your son marry a woman with pure neandranthal blood or a woman who has been contaminated by neathandral blood and has now lost her purity

          • What? You know that was weak as all get out right. Stop deflecting b4 I start on yo ass again. Address what I said then we can talk.

            • I would choose a white woman or a pure African woman… i dont slavery derived european blood in my lineage

              • So White people were never slaves? “Slave” is derived from Slavic. Arabs had over 1,000,000 whites in slavery in the early 1800s.
                Also Blackman, if you were not held back by white people, what have you “Pure Africans” got to show for millennia of unimpeded progress? A herd of cows and a few mud huts?

          • What person in their right mind would want to input neanderthal blood into their genes??

            • African americans have between 20-25% neandranthal blood and sadly thats the blood of degenerate european men during slavery. Just imagine sharing a lineage of men who would impregnantr their slaves and then sell them off for a life of servitude or prostitution smdh

              • Neanderthal was a hoax created to validate the “theory” of evolution and the idea of “favoured races” ie White people. It is a total fraud, it was just a man with Arthritis. Inflammatory comments don’t work on me Blackman , only facts.

          • Who wants a man who was penetrated by a man, is confused about his sexuality and is now mentally damaged for life.

      • Lmao and WTF so you actually are dumb enough to believe what you typed …wow …for all the nonsense you speak regarding the white man it’s clearly obvious he has brainwashed your stupid A$$ …I can’t with the dark skin negro he gets in his own way with his deep rooted insecurities….if only you knew the truth about slavery smh

        • Am I wrong…I only want my lady to have pure african genes which means darkskin like myself i dont want european blood derived from slavery in my bloodline.

    • Wakanda wasn’t colonized, so It wouldn’t make sense to have a fair skinned person

    • So when the actress does it not a problem but the director does it and happens to be white it’s a problem interesting ??

      • No i think shes stupid and just tyring to shine from the vapors. Dont nobody really care. It wasnt any controversy until she started talking. The movie would have been a hit with or without her washed out ass.

        • @SBP us pure africans have built nothing but still we are genetically pure and thats all that counts. What hurt pure africans historically is that there was never a wide scale migration outside africa so iq and behavioural genetics have become staunted due to disease, sun exposure and others

    • There were light skinned warriors in that film. She was just intimidated. If you read the article, they asked put more into the role. Seems like she had it to me.

  2. SHE DENIED THE PART BECAUSE SHE IS BI-RACIAL NOT SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE IS LIGHT SKINNED. I FIND IT SAD THAT NO LIGHTER SKINNED AFRICANS WERE DEPICTED IN THE MOVIE. AS WITH ANY RACE, THE SHADE RANGE GOES FROM LIGHT TO DARK. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO SEE OUR ENTIRE RACE PROPERLY REPRESENTED STILL GREAT THOUGH.

  3. The other cast member were all dark skinned ‘black’ people playing the role of Africans. As a ‘mixed raced’ girl, I wonder why include her anyway?

  4. This woman doesn’t know about TANNING? She doesn’t look like your “typical” biracial person. If it were me, I’d have gone to the Caribbean for a few weeks and soaked up the sun! She would not have been as dark skinned as some of the other actors, but she would have been in a blockbuster film! And she does not look white! STUPID reason to turn down a role of a lifetime if true.

  5. Um the last time I checked it is definetly light skin people im Africa. You know like A lot of Ethiopians are light as well as Euritran or whatever they are called.I I have several friends from Ethiopia and they are all light with curly or straight hair just like the girl in the picture. Everybody in Africa ain’t dark and most of them have a head full of curly straight hair. Nigerians are the ones that are usually dark with the nappier hair.

      • East Africans’ curls are natural. Lighter shades also occur naturally. Some tribes reject and don’t mix with light/albino Africans while others do. Some tribes make fun of jheri curl hair while others don’t.
        Only a small percentage of light or curly Africans are actually mixed.

      • And East Africans don’t look like Arabs. Arabs look like them. Arabs are albinos and admixtures.

        • Arabs are invading colonist just like the europeans, persians & ottomans… check the arab slave trade

  6. So if Wakanda was based off Nigeria than okay but it’s other places in Africa and the people ain’t far and they do have curly, smooth hair

    • no such thing as curly smooth hair. that’s a contradiction. you either have curly hair like the girl in the picture or smooth hair, straight like indians. lol…stop

      • South Indians have thick curly or wavy hair. Real Indians have a variety of textures. North Indians are mixed with white.

        Also, the Andamanese are Indians and they have dark skin and thick afros.

      • My bad you meant Cherokees and stuff, right?

        Anyway, curls are thick and soft. Straight hair is just…

  8. To Lovelylady black people don’t have nappy hair…..it’s extra curly……..THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

  9. She would have stood out like a grape in a bowl of cherries. She did the right thing. Allow Wakanda to be filled with beautiful black people. Maybe after they allow a little colonization the red bones can get roles.

    • Wisest words on this board.

      And to be honest, some of the ‘dark skinned’ AA’s were still lighter than our African bro/Sis in the film.

      You know it’s a fine color when Angela Bassett barely made the ‘color’ cut.

  10. um…actually there were people lighter than you in the movie, they’re called white. michael b. jordan’s girlfriend in the movie is a Sade lookalike and light skinned. you could’ve done the move and everyone knows black people come in ALL shades. don’t be ashamed or afraid of the dark skinned people, there’s room for everyone. stop the self hate and hold your head up and walk life like a runway like naomi campbell!

  11. She did the right thing. I’ve said for ages that biracial isn’t black, and that’s no disrespect to my biracial friends. It’s good that the number one movie right now in the world is made up of a 99.999% dark skinned black cast, when most times light shaded people are favored over darker ones. Remember Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone, that light skinned girl from Straight Outta Compton playing Toni Braxton? At least this girl has the decency to decline

  12. I’m offended that she turned the role down. She’s young. It ignorant in thinking there are no light-skinned Africans and that somehow she would steal the limelight or something. She’s just another wannabe denying her African heritage. I’m biracial and would’ve taken the role to depict the different shades of Africans

      • Yup…but once old white or arab massa comes, the black woman jumps to him. Look at sudan where arabs literally bred out the black race to a point black skin is villified. Even brazil black women literally laid down to allow whites to breed them out. Most brazillians are only 20-50% black

        • Shut your filthy piehole. You seem pressed about who black woman allow entrance to their snatches. It is up to the black vagina concerned as to whether or not it will accept / allow the white man’s sperm. It is not up to you – a black woman hatin black man – to decide for us!

          • Nah is just that queens are allowing ANYONE to breed them….now even the chinese are impregnating african wome smdh. Within a 500 years pure african blood will be wiped out

    • Different shades of Africans or mixed raced people? Two different things –
      Mixed isn’t black.

  13. Speaking of, have yall heard the new laws they tryna pass in South Africa? They gonna take all the land from white farmers and land owners, not pay them, and give it to the Africans. Some of the leaders even said they wont kill the white people “just yet”, but they will occupy their land. U know the whites are in uproar now. Maybe the africans take this wakanda stuff too serious?

    • The whites stole the land… killed & enslaved the people, land expropriation should’ve been done a long time ago.

      • I am all for black soverignity but remember ever place ran by predomiantly black people look like shit holes. In nigeria the government has no love for its people. In congo they use children to dig up metals for cellphone its a disgrace…and lets not forget detroit and baltimore

    • Anonymous @09:52: Do you think all black people should movie to South Africa? What is life like in Capetown for black people?

      • Lol those bantus will murder or rape you.
        I remember my cousins from nigeria move their and they were almost kidnapped for ransom. Girls as young as 10 are raped daily and thats how they spread hiv. Its very lawless. They hate foreigners because they think their stealing their jobs

  14. You’ve earned yourself a fan here from South Africa young lady. Your wisdom and maturity belies your age.
    You are truly in tune and sentitive to the struggle of black people. . I wish you all the best in your career in the future. God will avail other opportunities to you. Bigger ones. . Thank you.

  15. This tragic mulatto was offered a part in a movie that so far has made over $800 million dollars and she said no? I won’t say this chick is fucking stupid because she is only 19, but damn she fucked up! #Don’tTrustTheMulattos

  16. If you saw Black Panther, you know that thee was one light skin black chick. Her name is Nabiyah Be, she played Eric Killmonger’s girlfriend. Maybe that part could have been for Amandla Stenberg.

  17. The white man’s best trick ever was putting blacks against each other. Light skin vs dark bullshit. There was really no reason for her to even make this statement. At least she got offered the role. Jlo’s a Puerto Rican who played Selena whom was Mexican it wasn’t a issue. It’s sad how everytime Black people succeed in something it’s always some type of backlash.

    • Bitch please the best tactic was using mammies to neuter the black sons so they wouldnt rebel against the slave massa. These mammies even offered their virgin daughters to the massa to be sexual abused. Even today the mammies have literally destroyed black manhood. Smdh

      #I want my mamma

      • And where were the black men who should have been protecting them?

        Sorry ass nglets like you need to stop blaming women for your OWN mistakes…when you all were sitting their like some Pussies watching the horrific shit happening to them.

        You ain’t shit but the white man’s Bitch and specifically the Who’re of the man who raped you…you still need a mental evaluation behind that.

        • Is what i am saying wrong…like mammies are really disgusting people…they take better care everyone except themsleves and their own kind. Thats why white men love them so much…she neglected her kids while serving the crakka. Even today these mammies will slave for the white man by working 2 jobs all while their kids rot at home or in the streets. smdh

            • Lol remember most black females who run away from home are usually running away from their black mothers FACTS. Just imagine an overweight mom who is only good for cooking and cleaning and is constantly chastising her darkskin “nigglets” by beating them into submission…all why lauding about her neices good hair and light skin. Wouldnt you run away?

              • Just because YOUR AFRICAN MOTHER was garbage and did not protect you means nothing.

                @broo you are answering the main mentally ill one now….smfh.

  19. I concur. Mixed raced is not black so I am glad that she turned down the role. It would have been confusing to see her there.

    Mixed raced girls are all over the place. Seems like if you want to work and be black, you’ll get your turn when you hit 45+.

    • Bitch please if that is the logic that means african americans arent black. Some of you guys even have more white y dna than black y dna. I gurantee you that the majority of lightskin african americans have r1b as their paternal dna. My logic is that once the father is predominantly black the kids are black.

      #blackmemcarryblackness
      #paternalsupremacy

      • We have already established you are a Moron, so you can shove that logic up your ass like that dick you love to take.

        • Why are you not sticking to the topic Blackness is paternal you cant tell me that Frederick douglas or booker t washington is black especially knowing that they have a white father

  20. Movie made 800 million she turned down a role to be in it Fred Sandford voice “DUMMY”✔

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