Black Actors Sign Letter Decrying “Twisted Ugly Abuse” Of Francesca Amewudah-Rivers After She Was Cast In ‘Romeo & Juliet’ With Tom Holland
deadline.comProminent Black actors including No Time to Die star Lashana Lynch and Enola Holmes’ Susan Wokoma have signed an open letter decrying the abuse faced by Francesca Amewudah-Rivers after she was cast in a West End theatre production of Romeo & Juliet.
The Jamie Lloyd Company announced last month that Amewudah-Rivers will play Juliet alongside Tom Holland‘s Romeo in the staging of William Shakespeare’s tragedy, which opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre on May 23.
The Guardian newspaper reported that 883 people had supported the open letter, which was organized by Wokoma and writer Somalia Nonyé Seaton.
Signatories include Sheila Atim (The Woman King), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies), Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who), Wunmi Mosaku (Damilola, Our Loved Boy), and Tamara Lawrance (Time). “Too many times, Black performers – particularly Black actresses – are left to face the storm of online abuse after committing the crime of getting a job on their own,” the letter said. “The racist and misogynistic abuse directed at such a sweet soul has been too much to bear.
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