Inti Navia 
Shortly after “Star Wars: The Acolyte” premiered, star Amandla Stenberg dropped a music video on Insta. She has something to say.
Amandla Stenberg played the Jedi twins Osha and Mae Anasuya in “The Acolyte”. Osha is the main character of the show, tied to a series of mysterious murders that she gets swept up in to investigate.
On her Instagram post, Stenberg captioned: “Happy Juneteenth 🖤 and to those who are flooding me with intolerable racism— since it took me 72 hours on my laptop to make this song and video, u got 72 hours to respond. and I expect choreo!!”
In just three days, Stenberg recorded and filmed a music video calling out the hateful comments after her debut in “Star Wars”. The song is an absolute banger, but more importantly, it shows just how much online bigotry can affect a person’s life and mental well being, even if it’s in a virtual setting. She specifically calls out journalists who target her just for more clicks and views, probably referring to lots of commentary made on YouTube channels by social media influencers.
No matter your opinions on the show itself, Stenberg played an Emmy-worthy performance, not just as one character, but two. It’s inexcusable to target anyone for their race or ethnicity, and anyone who said those things to Stenberg should be forced to watch her music video over and over again.
“The Acolyte” has the most diverse cast in “Star Wars” to date, and they each bring joy and positivity to the franchise. We can take some comfort that for each hateful comment that pops up online, I’ve seen an equal amount of praise. The night of the premiere, people had already made the hashtag #YordeHorde, referring to Charlie Barnett’s Jedi character. People had only seen him on screen for a few minutes, and already they accepted him as a beloved character in the franchise.
Hopefully “The Acolyte” gets renewed for a season two, so Stenberg can keep kicking butt with her performance. It’s safe to say that she also has a music career ahead of her, if she wanted to keep making great songs like that one.
By Inti Navia, Sophomore, Columbia College Chicago
All Platforms: @intinavia
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