Spike Lee’s Netflix comedy She’s Gotta Have It returned for its second season May 24. Though plenty are singing the show’s praises, Star Wars actor John Boyega and other Black Brits have taken issue with a scene that criticizes Black actors from across the pond who “take” roles from African-Americans.
During the controversial conversation, Nola Darling (played by DeWanda Wise) speaks with fellow artist and potential new partner Olu (played by Michael Luwoye) regarding British actors filling American roles, saying they are simply a “cheaper” version of their Black American counterparts. Lee’s good friend Samuel L. Jackson and London-born actor Idris Elba clashed over this theory in 2017.
Olu then suggests Black British actors are better suited for certain roles because they don’t carry the burden of Black American history that African-Americans do. Darling responds, saying Black Brits aren’t “unburdened” but suffer from Stockholm syndrome and “fell in love with their captors.”
Boyega called the scene “trash,” which was the consensus of many of his fellow Englishmen. Check it out below.
I'm going to fight someone. Who the fuck wrote the script for @shesgottahaveit season 2?! This is some ahistorical nonsense. Both characters are completely deluded about the black British experience, and the racism that black Brits endure. Gtfo. https://t.co/3fLYAX7E5b
— Eggwhite in Paris (@itsjacksonbbz) May 26, 2019
Lee appears to be unbothered by the critique, responding to one follower who questioned the scene with, “Truth Hurts?”
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