Cynthia Erivo in Trouble Again

You may have heard the saying, lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice.  Well, that doesn’t seem to apply to British actress Cynthia Erivo who has been able to get sparks flying among sections of the African American community, not once but twice, over the very same issue.  That is, her selection by Hollywood to portray giant icons in the African- American pantheon while not being African American. 

It began back in 2018 when Erivo first landed the title role in the Harriet biopic.

Grumblings erupted on social media that a portrayal of such historic African- American significance should only be by an African-American actress.  Cynthia Erivo, British, of Nigerian origin, did not fit the profile as far as some commentators were concerned. 

To add some context, this argument has its roots in a wider controversy regarding the perception of black British actors in Hollywood, competing and being chosen to act as African American characters instead of actual African Americans who some feel should rightly be cast in the roles.  We are not going to go over those ruminations here but there is plenty of discussion on the issue to be found on Youtube and in online magazines.

Erivo, cast as Harriet Tubman, took the disgruntlement up a notch, mostly because she is of immediate Nigerian origin and not American, descendant of enslaved Africans. Around the same time, Harriet Tubman was also portrayed by Aisha Hinds in OWN Network’s, Underground series.  Although Hinds is American of Caribbean descent, some argued it was an acceptable choice for her to channel the persona of the sacred ancestor, due to her direct lineage from Africans enslaved in the new world.    

While the mainstream media tried to maintain a politically correct balance, acrimony raged on social media with some extremely loud voices calling for the total boycott by the black community of the Harriet movie starring Cynthia Erivo.  Cynithia stood accused of disrespecting African Americans because she once caricatured African American linguistic culture, on Twitter, calling it her, “ghetto American accent”.  She also disingratiated herself in some quarters because she expresses  pride in the Nigerian and British aspects of herself and also due to her friendship with Luvvie Ajayi,  a self-proclaimed, African elitist, but branded most vehemently as a ‘cultural bigot’, by angry critics.

Cynthia took to her Instagram page in an attempt to address the uproar.   She wrote,

 “I guess there is a bigger conversation to be had about heritage and experience, also about who Harriet really was…. what I will say is that my journey to this woman has been long and detailed and one I have not taken lightly.’

Anyway, these are tales of yesteryear. The movie went ahead of course, and Cynthia got an Oscar nomination for her very excellent performance. 

Fast forward 3 years and Cynthia lands another iconic title role, this time as Aretha Franklin. She was awarded the starring role in the National Geographic series, Genius which was released in March 2021.  

Backlash, this time came from the family toward the producers of the show.   They argue that they were not consulted nor called to participate in anyway in the making of the television series. They question the authenticity and reliability of a production that fails to communicate with those, they say, were closest to the subject, in this case, Queen Aretha. Where is the RESPECT, is the cry. It is the family that lead the call that ‘this movie has to go’ and many answer from within the matrix of social media commentary that they will not be supporting this particular movie either. 

To be fair,  the family do stress, quite categorically, that they do not have any grievance against any particular actor or actress in the production of Genius. This, undoubtedly, their nod toward Erivo in light of previous furore she has confronted. But, their statement did not deter the trolls and haters who came for her blood anyway.

According to some, Aretha Franklin was very particular about who should play her on screen and that she only wanted Jennifer Hudson to assume that mantle. Dreamgirls star, Hudson does indeed play Aretha in another widely acclaimed biopic entitled, Respect, a production in which Franklin herself had direct input before she died and had personally chosen Hudson for the role. 

And so, those feeling that loyalty to the Aretha Frankiin memory means supporting only the production starring Jennifer Hudson and shunning Erivo and her portrayal, make their case most vociferously online. 

The detractors have, so far, not prevented the success of the National Geographic production nor blocked the widespread acclaim Erivo has received for her part in bringing the legacy of the legendary superstar, Aretha Franklyn to life.

So, there you have it. That’s how Cynthia Erivo found herself under fire twice for the same thing.  Playing parts in movies which some feel she doesn’t have a right to play. It is worth pointing out that it is only a very small though vocal element with the African-American community that feel this way and they have been called out quite sternly from within the community for this narrow point of view.  For her part, Cynthia has risen above the scrutiny gloriously, by pouring her heart and soul into each performance and evoking the spirit of each of these titans of history, faithfully and with great success.

But what do you think?  Can African-American icons be portrayed by other people of African origin?  Let us know in the comments

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