Recently the official trailer to the Nina Simone film with Zoe Saldana was released, which brought the actress more backlash. However, one person who expressed his opinions on the upcoming film and the backlash Saldana has received is none other than Talib Kweli.
Now Talib is no stranger to voicing his opinions when it comes to controversial topics, and this one is no different. A fan tweeted and asked his thoughts about the casting, seeing how he’s a well-known Nina Simone fan. He replied to the tweet and said, “Zoe is a fantastic actress. But this is an incredibly difficult role. I reserve judgment until I see it.”
This of course added to the ongoing debate of Saldana wearing makeup to make herself darker for the role. Talib is not worried about the makeup, but more so the acting within the film. In fact he used Denzel’s role as Malcolm X to prove his point. He went on to say, “Malcolm X was light skinned with red hair. He looked nothing like Denzel. At all. That’s why it’s called acting. Let’s see what Zoe got.”
Nonetheless, fans were more concerned with Saldana donning “black face” for the role and not so much her acting skills. Talib responded to that by saying, “A black person can’t wear black face idiot.” He then went on to provide his followers with the example of Kerry Washington and Forest Whitaker wearing darker makeup for their roles in “The Last King of Scotland.”
The twitter debate moved on to Talib personally knowing Simone Kelly, the daughter of Nina Simone, and supporting her recent statements defending Saldana against the backlash. She said, “It’s unfortunate that Zoe Saldana is being attacked so viciously when she is someone who is part of a larger picture. “It’s clear she brought her best to this project, but unfortunately she’s being attacked when she’s not responsible for any of the writing or the lies.”
Talib continued his debate and pointed out, although there are plenty of actresses that resemble Nina Simone, with the same complexion. The project is more so about the acting, which is what he plans to judge Saldana off of.
Check out his tweets.
Would you say Talib Kweli has some valid points?
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