Celebrity

Zendaya Responds To Not Being ‘Black Enough’ for Aaliyah Role

Zendaya-Coleman-and-Her-Father-Talk-Aaliyah-Biopic

 

The drama train surrounding Lifetime Network’s upcoming Aaliyah biopic is still going and they haven’t started filming the movie yet! Since it came out that 17-year-old Zendaya Coleman beat out her competition and will play the late singer in the made-for-TV movie tentatively titled Aaliyah: Princess of R&B, the controversy hasn’t stopped. Now fans are criticizing the decision to cast the Disney star in the role because she’s not “black” enough.

 

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Yesterday, while headed to the airport, Zendaya (who’s bi-racial) responded:

A lot of people say I’m not black enough. Half black is just enough. ​It doesn’t matter what color you are, it’s about how you portray the character. For those that don’t know, Angela Bassett and Tina Turner, they look nothing alike but she was that character so I think that’s what it’s all about.”

Her father Kazembe Ajamu also joked:

And one thing, they’re shooting this in the summer spending lots of time in the sun. She’ll get dark enough.

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Meanwhile Aaliyah’s family has put out a statement saying that the Lifetime Network has a habit of taking the lives of famous people and “[exploiting] their stories for a buck.”

“Aaliyah was more than a singer, she was -and is still – an American music icon whose legacy continues to live on and influence today’s music culture, just as Ray Charles, Notorious B.I.G., Selena and Johnny Cash.

Considering the magnitude of her fans’ affection alone, she deserves to have a tribute much more grand than a television network debut that won’t even consider the perspectives of those who were closest to Aaliyah.

Disregarding the families and dishonoring the legacies of celebrated figures who have passed on, big networks want to exploit their stories for a buck. We’re here to make it clear that it’s not okay!

Lifetime Television is trying to dictate the status of our heroes, our heroines and – in this case – our beloved Aaliyah. We implore everyone to call Lifetime Television, send emails and bombard social media so they know we demand respect for our cultural icons.

We will not sit idly by while they misrepresent and reap profits from our luminaries. There is more at stake than the public could imagine.”

 

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Now that it’s official that the family doesn’t want the film made, should Zendaya back out of the role out of respect for the family? How will Lifetime pull off a biopic without getting permission from Aaliyah’s label to use her music in the film?

 

Source: Necole Bitchie.com: 

 

 

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