Alexandra Shipp spoke with Glamour about the backlash to her playing Storm in the X-Men franchise. The actress previously played the role in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse and will reprise her role in the upcoming Dark Phoenix, out Feb. 14, 2019.
“[I tweeted back] at people who criticized me for not having dark enough skin for my role in X-Men because we’re not going to have this conversation about a cartoon character. You’re not going to tell me that my skin color doesn’t match a Crayola from 1970,” she told Glamour. “Growing up, when I was reading the comics, I pictured her looking like me. For any black girl, for there to be a black superhero, we picture them looking like us.”
Following criticisms that her skin was too light to play Storm in the X-Men franchise, she tweeted, “This conversation about Storm is so stupid, I’m out…. If I lose my job to another actress, I hope it’s for her talent and grace, not her skin [color].”
“When I auditioned for the role, I wasn’t like, ‘Oh man, I’m not dark enough.’ I was like, ‘Finally, this is my moment,'” she told Glamour. “I’m not playing Harriet Tubman with a prosthetic nose and darkening my skin tone. I would never do that.”
Shipp added that while she receives a lot of pushback from people on social media, she never plans on silencing herself. “I hope to never censor the things that come out of my mouth. Male actors have always been able to be way more opinionated when it comes to politics. As actresses, we only get to do things like help the hungry children,” she said. “Take Angelina Jolie. She’s political in her actions, but you don’t know her opinion on Trump. I think people should speak their truth.”
“I’m exactly who I want to be every single day. I know it might be my demise — I’ll check back in with you in a couple years and see how it’s working out — but I’m my own artist,” she added. “You can’t be a great artist without having a huge opinion.”
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