Amandla Stenberg Turned Down A Role on ‘Black Panther’ Because She Is Light-Skinned

In an interview with CBC, Amandla Stenberg revealed she turned down a role on Black Panther because she is biracial and light-skinned.

"One of the most challenging things for me to do was to walk away from Black Panther. I got really, really close and they were like, 'do you want to continue fighting for this?' And I was like, this isn't right," she said.

"These are all dark skin actors playing Africans and I feel like it would have just been off to see me as a biracial American with a Nigerian accent just pretending that I'm the same color as everyone else in the movie.
That was really challenging, to make that decision, but I have no regrets. I recognize 100 per cent that there are spaces that I should not take up and when I do take up a space it's because I've thought really, really critically about it and I've consulted people I really trust and it feels right."

While recognizing her light-skin privilege is a great gesture, it's problematic to think it would be off of her to be in the same movie with dark-skinned cast members "pretending" she's the same color as everyone else.

There are light-skinned and biracial Africans in the continent, so she would have fit perfectly!