“The Acolyte” star Amandla Stenberg releases song in response to “unbearable racism”

Amandla Stenberg has no patience for racists and therefore uses her musical talent to do good.

In a new song body body body Star, who uses the pronouns they/them, reflected on the new wave of online attention she has received as the lead actor in the war of stars series The Acolytewhich was bombarded with reviews from homophobic and/or racist fanatics. The song “Discourse” contains the chorus “We so bored, don’t f— wit yo discourse” and addresses the hatred and prejudice the actor has had to experience throughout his career.

Stenberg released the song along with a self-shot music video with the caption “Happy Juneteenth 🖤 and to those who inundate me with unbearable racism – since it took me 72 hours on my laptop to create this song and video, you have 72 hours to respond. And I expect choreography!!”

The song begins with references to a “2018 interview with Trevor the King” (i.e. Trevor Noah) that went viral on social media last month, with critics acting in bad faith jumping on a six-year-old clip promoting the film. The hate you givewith Stenberg explaining that “making white people cry was actually the goal” of the film, which depicts the aftermath of a black teenager being killed by a police officer. “They cut lines together, create hate they recognize, make it look like the same propaganda they spew/ ‘Cause they mistake our pain for violence and try to weaponize everything we do,” Stenberg sings, criticizing conservative social media users for attempting to portray her words as racist by taking them out of context.

In the song’s next verse, Stenberg criticizes right-wing pundits and racists for using “woke” as a catch-all term for progressive or diverse ideas they despise. “They twist WOKE, distort it, and appropriate it/As far as I remember, WOKE was something we created. Speak truth to power, look out for you stupid racists,” she sings. “And now they’re using it to describe everything they threatened to do/Remember when Gambino brought it into the zeitgeist?” she says, referencing Childish Gambino’s 2016 hit “Redbone,” which helped popularize the phrase “stay woke.”

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Later, Hunger Games The star accused the media of fanning the flames of the bigoted backlash against her by reporting on racist criticism of her. “Journalists, I’m looking at you. Have you forgotten that your job is to tell the truth?” Stenberg asks. “By mining the numbers and data and using it to spread division, it seems like you’ve abandoned all your ethics for money and views.”

The track is far from Stenberg’s first musical project – she also plays the violin and has released several singles on music streaming services, including “Wicked Animals” and “Be Mine”. She also sang in the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen in 2021.

Listen to Stenberg’s new song on her Instagram page.