What's really going on with “The Acolyte” hate & Amandla Stenberg's retaliation against it 

Amandla Stenberg is the face of privileged people and she claims she is being opressed. She was born millionaire, works for disney since she's 4 yo and got a role made specifically for her in a star wars show. I have absolutely no sympathy for her whatsoever.

Fans: "We don't like bad writing." Actress: "RACISM!"

'My loyalty is to my sister!" "WHAT!? YOU TRIED TO KILL HER AND YOU KILLED EVERYBODY ELSE! WHAT LOYALTY!?"

she emotes more in that stupid video than she does in the show

I was a PA for a local millionaire with power in a small town. He abused his power and people and i had to quit. It took me 6 months. Leslye headland was a PA for 6 years for the most powerful guy in Hollywood... SHE KNEW.

Cosplayed as Padme only once she was cast in the show

Has she experienced oppression herself? Turns out she was never cast in this role. Headland sought her out. Raised by her wealthy white father. She works for a multibillion dollar multi national corporation. Doesn’t seem very oppressed to me. Anyways, good luck to her, but this isn’t going to help.

It's amazing that she picked the absolute worst response and did it so poorly. Someone should have saved her from herself.

Amandla's diss track was itself borderline racist, and if nothing else was EXTREMELY unprofessional.

NONE of the people involved in this show are 'Star Wars fans'. The writing CLEARLY contradicts the SW lore and the writing is just plain bad. The actors AGREED to be involved with Headland. They made that decision. Amanda Stenberg is the daughter of a rich white male. SHE is the one who is privileged. 15% RT audience score shows you the truth. Stenberg's comments still show her stances on other things which DO effect the way she acts, her ideology and who she CHOOSES to do business with. Why should we look at HER side and the side of these people when they are not even sane?

Even if you feel like you have been unfairly treated by the fans, its not a wise move to release a diss track accusing fans of being racist. For those who are genuinely racist, they wont care and will laugh it off. For the vastly greater number of fans who just did not like the show, they will be even more alienated because they will feel as if they have just been written off as racists. For others, they will just see someone who is as much "white" as they are "black"- richer than them, more famous than them, who is successful, wealthy, in Hollywood and in star wars- someone who is infinitely more privileged than them- complaining about being treated unfairly. It will fall flat and will burn down that bridge to possible reconciliation. Just look at madame web, everyone laughed at how bad it was, but the actresses were not blamed, in fact there is a grudging respect that they laughed along with us.

1) Terrible writing and execution. 2) No respect for characters or lore established in previous projects. 3) Questionable at best new-to-Star Wars show runner chosen with Questionable motives. I mean, pick your poison. Hopefully, Disney will learn from this, but we already know that they won't.

We are at a point now where giving any kind of criticism to Disney SW gets you a "you're racist" as the automatic response. One day in the not too distant future, film classes in schools will teach future generations on how badly Disney ruined SW. A shame.

Notice how when Andor had Lesbians no one said anything? It's almost like they were good characters and we didn't care who they slept with 😮

I never thought that there would ever come a day when I would actually feel apathy for Star Wars. And yet, here we are.

"When you're accustomed to privilege equality feels like oppression."

Disney: ( shoveling crappy stories to the fans ). Fans: ( shoveling back ). Disney: Help! Racism! Misogyny!

Despite working for Disney since she was 13-14 years old, despite being beautiful, despite being born into money, despite all that oppression, she's in Star Wars. She made it.

Watching all the drama around the Acolyte has been infinitely more entertaining than the Acolyte itself.

nah, the disney side is in the wrong and there is no gray area. if someone goes to a burger place because they want to...eat a burger and the restaurant and wait staff say "nah. burtgers are a bit problematic, we will eat what we give you." that is objectively stupid.

Darth Vader, a universally popular character, has James Earl Jones as his original voice actor. A black man's voice is one of the MOST well recognized voices out there, and I have heard zero complaints. Same thing for Mace Windu, one of the MOST popular characters in Star Wars. Have a seat, young Stenberg.

My biggest problem with the “star wars fans are toxic and are too critical” talking point is lets say your favorite sports team wins 3 games and loses 14 in a season. Do you expect fans who pay their hard earned money on your product to be happy? Shouldnt a paying consumer and fan be allowed to voice their frustration as long as its respectful? (which most of the time it is). Using your voice is always going to be the most effective way to bring change and better a franchise you care about and love so deeply.

She called us Star Wars nerds in that SW is gay interview. Not fans but nerds! That says a lot to me about how she really feels about SW and it's fan base.

It wasn't Headland's former job as secretary to Weinstein that made me think she was unsuitable to run a Star Wars show. It was "I want to show the Sith as the underdogs" and "If you don't know how to direct, just lie about it, like men do".

Noone had a problem with her ... until now. They had a problem with the writing and the obvious flop it was going to be. She has made it about race. If she has a problem she should blame the writers and Disney not calling the fans awful things. She's a lunatic.

The “hate” is for the writing and the clear misuse of the many millions of dollars that was put into this show. Did I mention the poor writing? It should be mentioned that the writing is really bad. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but have you noticed how bad the writing is? It makes for a really bad show. Also there should be no such thing as fat Jedi. I’m confident that being a glutton and slovenly are not part of the teachings of the Jedi. As for Amandala Stenberg………..I took her at her word early on that she’s a huge Star Wars fan………now I believe that to be a ruse.

A bud of mine told me this show "is a horrible show, written by horrible people, and made for a horrible audience" Haven't seen it but if the entire internet is against it, it must be bad.

Instead of watching the Acolyte, I'm rereading the Thrawn Trilogy. It's rekindled my love for Star Wars and made me realize just how bad the Disney era has been. It's really nice having something made out of love for the brand vs it being just another vehicle for whatever agenda creatives have.

I think this is part of the marketing at this point

If you want to criticise someone (e.g. for not seeing another group as human), then refer to them specifically, not by a skin colour. “White people” are not responsible for the perceived crimes of some individuals. I’m sick of people like her generalising by skin colour, and treating people differently by skin colour, while complaining about racism….

When I was growing up, we had a term for what Thor is talking about: Preachy. I don't hear the word used ever any more, but it seems to apply.

The fact their leading actress can get away with this without any statement or firing from Disney is so expected but still wild

I don't really care about off screen shenanigans along with most fans I would think. We just want to see good Star Wars. There's this to say however. IF the Acolyte was performing anything like what Disney Lucasfilm was expecting or hoping for then we wouldn't be seeing any of this nonsense. The lashing out is symptomatic of deeper problems at Disney. Money in other words, they're losing huge amounts of it with a massive IP that should be a licence to print money. Stenberg is dead weight, no way they can front her for future projects and I think that explains her ridiculous attacks on the fandom.

Funny how nobody had a problem with the diverse cast we saw in Andor. It only seems to be in the projects that are horrid.

It’s strange for a half black half white person that came from a very privileged family, to hate on white people so much. It just seems like she’s pretty disingenuous with her video. It has never worked to attack the fans. Instead of guilting people into watching, more just walk away. Apathy is extremely strong with Star Wars right now… so the brand will be completely dead in no time.

Leslye Headland was working for Miramax and H.W. during the days when Disney owned Miramax. She knows where the bodies are burried. She will be protected and backed up by Disney all the way

Every young actor tries to carve their own place in Hollywood... This will not age well, she's listening to the wrong people.

These people just can’t keep their mouth shut. Sometimes it’s best to say nothing.

Rachel Zegler sends thanks to Stenberg for taking the heat off her over Snow White...😆 Stenberg's Dad is from Denmark and she had a very privileged life like Colin Kaepernick and are millionaires.

We are finally at the point I feared all along with this show the fans who had legitimate problems with the series are being labeled as horrible people by people who can't accept that others can have different opinion then them and be good people about it and now we have the lead dropping to the level of the truly bad people to say anyone who has problems with this show is racist. I am so tried of how everyone think like a Sith in terms of if your not with me your my enemy and wish that people can realize that others can have a different opinion and be fine with that. Yes there are some bad people who are the things they claim all "haters" are and that is bad but most people are not like the far extreme of their side.

Amandla wasn’t the reason I haven’t watched any of the Acolyte, Boba Fett and Obi-wan were. After episode three of Obi-wan I haven’t watched any new Star Wars until I have seen or heard something that convinced me it was worth watching. But Amandla’s song will prevent me from watching the Acolyte under any circumstances.

Strawman argument, I think most people knew she wasn't talking about the Acolyte, but the fact the she singled out a certain race was the issue,

My example is Finn. I was excited for Finn to be the very first stroomtroper to leave the order and build up a resistance or something like this. But, no, he was cast aside and was reduced to cry for Rey to pamper his ass or whatever. Simping for her, but then loosing her to the cool bad guy Kylo. Good job, Disney!

She’s a huge fan and cosplayed as padme just a year ago? Not sure I buy the “huge fan” line.

My wife. A traditional feminist you could say. Isn't a star wars fan(harry potter is her jam) surprised me when she told me she saw all 4 episodes yesterday. She's not even a casual. She knows who darth vader is and anakin and thinks they are different people. She said it was a bad show. No logic and soul less. So how can I convince her that star wars isn't that?😔

Regarding the 6 year old "white people crying" interview. The difference is that its about race - and all of the double standards which accompany it. If a white person said that about Black people, theyd be hounded out of polite society (at least in the western world).

Amandala Stenberg thinks she is oppressed and yet she is a VERY attractive half danish millionaire. I actually want to like her but she makes it impossible.

Boy howdy, I wasn’t sure if I was going to watch product. But now that the lead actress has come out, singing and dancing and making ignorant implications about a whole race of people, I think I can finally comfortably make my mind up!

What Harvey did was known as an open secret. There is no way she didn't know.

It's the same heavy-handed messaging and attitude that's surrounded the show from the start. They keep adding fire to the fire, but the water's not going to stop.

“The axe forgets but the tree remembers.”

If you keep crapping the bed over and over, don't blame people when they start to notice the smell.

2:11 When it came out that Headland was doing a Star Wars series, it was Headland that made the annoucement out of the blue and the Disney execs didn't even know about it. Some see it as Headland hired herself. Being a personal assistant to high up executive means having connections and knowing dirt on people. It also leads to power by proxy by threatening to tell Harvey... The truth will eventually come out but too late to save Star Wars.

The definition of "talking out of the side of your neck"..They said that the show was being attacked and review-bombed before the show released..They also reported generously about the first episode got "The highest viewer ratings,even higher than The Mandalorian.",this is what the studio has banked on,having one of the largest cinematic fanbases that will spend money to tune into anything that they slap the brand "Star Wars" on,with little to no effort needed..There are plenty of things that are wrong with the show,and not only as fans,but also consumers,we can call them out on shoddy or incoherent writing,bad dialogue or acting without senseless accusations.

I can sympathize with Amandla, and at the same time, I can rag on her for being the very thing she's ranting about. That music video is forever, Amandla. She may never live that one down... as they say.

Amandla did an Ewan McGregor car video in the form of a music video.

Thor and Timcast share a lot of fence post between them…LOL

There is a whole generation of current day Hollywood so-called talent that are moving themselves into Oblivion from the standpoint of history. They will be shortly forgotten and probably not even working in the next 5 years as send it to slowly returns to the industry, I would assume but this is to assume that the industry is going to find a way to survive so yeah

This is one of the most measured takes on The Acolyte debacle, by far. Great job.

The comments on her video 😂😂😂 girl got annihilated

She is just a tool for Disney and Lucas Film. She plays a game which she will loose because she shows the middle finger to Star Wars Fans. It is pure stupidity to attack the fans

She’s an alright actress with a terrible, arrogant attitude towards a specific section of her audience. I understand being frustrated with how the show she’s the main star of, but there’s no reason to cuss out that section of the fandom for being simply critical of the show at large or play the victim card despite how great a privilege it is for her to be the lead(s) in a Star Wars production. Hopefully the failure of The Acolyte teaches her to eat some humble pie and she’s able to leave this experience more mature. Emphasis on hopefully. If she’s going to keep acting this way, then I say good luck finding a job after this. Studios probably aren’t going to want to hire someone who whips out hastily-written, incendiary diss tracks towards a considerable chunk of the world’s population the second something she’s starring in receives constructive criticism.

Hey Thor. Your channel is obviously Star Wars/Marvel based, being called Thor Skywalker and all. But you occasionally reference shows like House of the Dragon and Rings of Power when you want to make a point. So, would you consider talking more indept about Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings? Assuming you actually like them and aren't just used as examples when making a point.

She got pissed off because people didn’t like her video calling them racist even though she said wanted honest feedback and got it. Sorry Thor but she made the choice to do this and has no business being mad at others something that was going to piss the fans off by the end of the day!

I tried watching her music video and switched off halfway through out of second hand embarrassment. I'm sure she has faced harrassment and racism, I'm sure of it, somewhere, but I haven't seen any in any of the circles I've moved in.

I am so sick and tired of Lucasfilm painting us fans as racist and homophobic for not liking a garbage Star Wars show.

Leslye headland looks like the offspring of Quentin Tarantino and a fish.

Great Science Fiction has always made us think but did it in a way that wasn't too obvious. Old Star Trek pre JJ did this well. From the half black and white aliens to the Cogenitor from ST:E. Still had a story and a lesson to teach.

I think the situation at Lucasfilm is just sad. For how long they are already whining about the toxic fanbase? Also it is not like that the situation will improve anytime soon. They will probably still be crying about the fanbase in 5 or 10 years. Sooner or later they have to face reality that they wasted their live fighting a pointless war with the fanbase.

If the Acolyte doesn’t land, I may eat my words, but we don’t really know how poorly written the show is, or if it’s lore-breaking. 1. If you don’t know why a character is feeling a certain way, it could be because we don’t know what happened to lead them to where they are 2. We don’t know why Ki Adi Mundi says what he says, but he is not always right. After all, they were not “extinct for a thousand years.” It makes sense that there was some smoke before the fire, even if it wasn’t recognized. Regarding political messaging… I don’t think it exists in the show. There is nothing to recommend the life of a witches coven in this show. They are weirdos. Also, dudes, all-female witch covens have been a thing FOREVER, both in stories and in reality.

I find it interesting she mentions the movie she did called "THE HATE YOU GIVE"

8:01 I completely disagree with your assessment regarding the comment make white people cry. There is absolutely no context that makes the comment ok. People can say whatever they want to say, but you need to understand the ramifications of what you are saying. There is no reason except to get attention or to make people mad.

*I’m sorry but she’s so annoying. Almost everything she’s been in, she’s had something to say. All. The. Time.*

Sometimes its not how hard you work. Its what boat you are in

I see everyone has forgotten she played Rue in the Hunger Games as her first big role (possibly first role). Because of that role she had a lot of people hating her just for being black. She was told she was not cute or lovable enough for the role because she was black. That people no longer felt bad at Rue's tragic death scene because she was black. You can tell me she's a multimillionaire all you want. She has felt the brunt of racism, and at a very young age and for something that was entirely not her fault (a lot of that fan base had not realized Rue was black because of the author's deceptive writing, so even though Rue was always meant to be black, fans felt that they'd had someone do a bait and switch on them because even fans like me who recognized Rue was not white, a lot of us did not catch on to the fact that she was black because the books never tell us she was black. It was the author's fault entirely, but it led to a lot of backlash, and a then 12 year old girl, I think, got hit with it repeatedly). So I'm not exactly surprised that the actress's race is actually a triggering subject for her. She was literally hated just for being black when she was only a child. I don't care how much money you tell me she has, it's going to hurt a young girl to be told her death matters less because she's black. I totally understand if the actress is scarred by her past experiences. That doesn't mean I agree with what she's said. Just that I DO remember where she's coming from. The fact of the matter is, Disney is playing dirty with DEI, and it is truly baffling from a capitalist company how they push this, but then they also throw their DEI cast and crew out like a shield to protect them from all criticism rather than writing and promoting GOOD shows for the DEI characters. As a woman, I do keep an eye on representation, and while I don't think women need to be in everything (like, say, a WWII picture about fighting on the front lines), I would question a show about only straight white men. I remember the days of not having a reasonable amount of representation, and I sympathize with people in other categories who rarely get to see representation of one of their inherent qualities. But I have also always said that what we asked for were more stories about people like us. We never once said we wanted those stories to suck. And a lot of people under the umbrella of DEI recognize that Disney is almost deliberately making its shows suck. The writing is just awful. And then the general public is not as articulate in its analysis and critiques and say the show sucks because it had a black lesbian woman in it, rather than that the plot lost focus in its efforts to include everyone, broke canon, and did not develop its tension and intrigue the way that it should have. The black lesbians just get all the blame for existing, when neither the blackness nor the femaleness, nor the gayness was the cause of the bad story. It was incompetent writing all the way around. Disney is doing DEI dirty and deeply damaging all of its brands and I still do not understand why they are following this money-losing proposition. But it's not the DEI that's wrong. It's the lack of rigor in their storytelling that's the true issue.

Thor, this is a GREAT video! Very balanced and nuanced in ways many other channels aren't.

Hey Thor i dont believe she was a Star Wars fan before being cast, she cosplayed to play pretend in my opinion. Lesley also pretended and even says Stat Wars saved her life but its pretty clear from their interviews they look down on SW fans and nerds in general

Disney can have as many diverse characters as they want. I just want a good show, with good characters.

I didn't realize that lezzbuan headlamp only hired her because she had a crush on her 😂😂😂shes like a 12 yr old girl writing fan fiction where she gets the girl 😂😂

Hope you’re having a great day Thor!

That's the beauty of democracy: everyone has the right to say whatever they want and you don't need to like it at all.

Hey Thor, great video - perhaps once a week a video of yours could be “Thor Hammers It Home to the Extremists” where you could take the week’s Star Wars fan-fights and succinctly show each side (in terms that speak to them) the point of view from the other side…. you don’t even have to pick a side, you just get to be a level-headed moderator. It’s sadly ironic when checking various channels on opposing sides, guilty of the exact same slanders, they just don’t want to take the time to discuss and understand - it has to be “I’m right, you’re wrong, if I can’t convince you of your error, then you must be destroyed” Discourse is all about understanding, not agreeing.

This is the best commentary on The Acolyte I have read. Well reasoned analysis. Star Wars is supposed to be an escape. The writing and flow are bad. You are taken out of the experience too often as things either don't make sense or don't flow. It's like a Michael Bay movie with the explosions. Your comments about Andor - that is what the discussion should be. That is excellence and standard Star Wars should be held to. Also, it would behoove every Star Wars writer, director, & actor to really think about what it means to be in the Star Wars universe. You in effect become immortal. You never, ever be forgotten. Think about that. Think of all the famous people in Hollywood. Nobody, and I mean nobody, will ever remain as famous as Mark Hamill. 100 years from now not many people will remember the name Taylor Swift. But I bet 50 million in 2124 will know Warrick Davis played Wicket.

I guarantee you that not only did she know what that guy was doing but she was actively involved in recruiting and covering up all his backroom activities.

Thor is SUCH A GENTLEMAN. Fair as always. He should be appluaded.

Dude, you’ve been the chillest out of all the acolyte coverage I’ve listened to. Keep it up 😎👍

And this , this is why you are the best Star Wars RU-vid channel you are clear on your view and don’t try to influence, in fact you encourage us to think for ourselves and I appreciate that approach bro.

I want diversity in Star Wars but I also want good writing in Star Wars. If something has good writing then a majority of the fans should, in theory, be good with any kind of diversity that's going on in a series. It's unfortunate that actors that are considered diverse are receiving rage from fans for just doing their best with the scripts they're given. Don't get angry with them, express your frustration with the people who are in charge of creative decisions for how the show is written.

I just started watching this channel I gotta say I appriciate the articulate and well though out commentary. A nice change 👏

Ngl I can hear Thor’s frustration in his voice

Hey Thor, So your next move is to “Spring the trap…”? Fabulous take. I paused in the early minutes of the video and went to check out her post. I came back annoyed - and boy was there some well liked comments made by people who felt like me. I was itching to come back here and get your take - assuming it’d be along the lines of what I and many of those people felt. Man, was I wrong. I don’t make a serious enough attempt to understand someone else’s perspective - even the ones I disagree with wholeheartedly. At least within a fandom, as I do in other parts of my life. Maybe those can get a bit better too. Many thanks!

I'd like to see some of these 'racist comments' that she's been receiving. Where are they?

You just earned a new subscriber! You have the most honest and neutral view for this whole thing and that is very welcome to hear.

Look, there is a reason why people call part of the fanbase "the fandom menace" to deny this part of the fandom is toxic is insanity.

Thanks for making this video and giving context to that video she made. You’re the most level headed commentator on Star Wars and I wish people would watch your video before commenting.

It’s about people taking the Trevor Noah interview out of context from ten seconds. Instead of explaining the context she made a “song”, which only made it 10x worse.

She’s had racist attacks against her since she was in Hunger Games, when she was 14. However this music video doesn’t help her reputation and only makes her look very immature.

"Make good characters and if they are good characters I don't care what they look like" is a normal thing to say. But this people consider being "color blind" and any other similar attitudes toward life/entertainment, offensive, short sighted and plainly racist/sexist, etc. etc. etc. There's no win.

My issues with the show before it aired were definitely Headland's old interviews and the"female centric" focus. Even though I knew the interview was not about SW it still conveys her beliefs and made me expect those beliefs to be expressed in her future work. And even though I have absolutely no issue with SW featuring female characters but going into the creation process with the goal to make a "female centric" story clearly shows that the story itself is not the main priority.

After some research it seems that whole “making white ppl cry” comment was taken out of context, she meant that she wanted to open their eyes to show them what the discrimination people in the black community go though, make them feel empathetic. Nothing wrong with that.