*We previously reported about the backlash British actress Cynthia Erivo faced after being cast as Harriet Tubman in a biopic about her life.
In an interview with Shadow and Act during the Toronto International Film Festival, Erivo addressed recently resurfaced tweets from 2013 in which she appeared to be mocking Black Americans.
Given that Tubman is a vital figure in Black American history, folks are not down with a seemingly anti-Black American actress portraying her.
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Be free or die. Watch the official trailer for #HARRIET, the unbelievable true story of Harriet Tubman. In theaters this November. pic.twitter.com/HcSUX4ZkAA
— #HARRIET (@HarrietFilm) July 23, 2019
“I would say it took a lot of hard work to get to this place [of playing Harriet Tubman] and I didn’t take it lightly,” Erivo said. “I love this woman and I love Black people full stop. It would do me no service, it would be like hating myself.”
“As for the tweets, taken out of context without giving me the room to tell you what it meant–and it wasn’t mocking anyone really,” she added. “It wasn’t for that purpose at all. It was to celebrate a song I had wrote when I was 16.”
We will not allow the hype of a prestige film to compromise our sacred ancestor Harriet’s legacy. #HarrietDeservesBetter #ADOShttps://t.co/J7Rffq6hN6
— ??eBoPeep?? (@eBoPeep) July 23, 2019
She previously spoke about the controversy at TIFF where she noted that she has “never spoken negatively about people.”
“I would never…I’ve never spoken negatively about people because I don’t want that, I don’t want that energy from me to others,” Erivo said. “I don’t believe that serves us at all, I don’t believe it serves a purpose other than bringing negativity into my life and your life and I just don’t want that.”
WATCH:
.@CynthiaEriVo shares how she found out she got the role of Harriet Tubman while she was performing in “The Color Purple.”
She also talks about the preparations she’s already started making to play Aretha Franklin in an upcoming series! pic.twitter.com/87uc1Pv5iY
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 24, 2019
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