Last year, DC Comics announced that actor Anna Diop would be playing the character Starfire in Titans, the live-adaptation of Teen Titans.
On Thursday, the first trailer was released at San Diego Comic-Con, but it was met with mixed reviews from fans.
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In particular, a lot of people felt that Diop was not a good fit for Starfire and started flooding her Instagram with harassment.
Some people started the hashtag #NotMyStarfire to protest Diop playing the role.
@batswaynes @4eyedRaven #notmystarfire this is the REAL starfire, making every character black (when the closest to our skin colour was Latino for her) doesn’t promote diversity just seems forced https://t.co/VVugbVQ8Ir
@HeLovesTheWay Stop reaching, the picture below is Starfire. What DC is giving us is a street walker #notmyStarfire #sjwsruineverything #comicsgate https://t.co/9gbjtLkhPg
Diop then disabled the comments on her Instagram on all but one post.
This isn't the first time the actress has received harassment in regards to her casting in the TV series. In April, the first photos of the characters on set were leaked on social media, and it was met with negative reactions.
[BREAKING] The first leaked photo of Koriand’r aka Starfire (Anna Diop) in her costume on the set of #Titans !
At the time, Diop responded in a now-deleted Instagram post, acknowledging that the leaked photo doesn't do the character justice, but that "the hate speech that followed was deplorable."
Since the release of the new trailer, fans have suggested that a lot of the backlash is because Diop is a black woman.
the backlash against anna diop can be summed up in one word: racist people are offended because she's a black woman playing an orange alien, and that's BS bc it's not like y'all were ever gonna find an orange actor y'all just R A C I S T thanks for coming to my ted talk 👀☕
YALL DON’T LIKE ANNA DIOP BECAUSE SHE IS A DARK SKINNED BLACK WOMAN. BE HONEST TO YOUR COLORIST WAYS. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES THE SHOW HASN’T EVEN COME OUT. AND DONT START BY SAYING SHE DONT LOOK LIKE STARFIRE CAUSE NOBODY ON THIS EARTH LOOK LIKE AN ALIEN SO FOH. #TeenTitans https://t.co/nWesGYvWa2
Anna Diop is being harassed for being a black woman in a comic space, Scarlet Johansson is being “harassed” for taking multiple roles from minorities, shut up. https://t.co/m8CygIxm4b
People were disgusted.
The racism over Starfire in Titans is disgusting.
And quickly came to her defense.
@DCComics @DCUO #AnnaDiop a Black woman can play an Orange Alien because we are that fierce. Don’t doubt your casting choice. The complaints have no merit. Based on their logic Spock should have been played by a Half human half Vulcan actor.
They shared how hypocritical they thought it was.
Jennifer Lawrence isn't fucking blue so where was this energy when she was cast as Mystique? https://t.co/QG2Zx6M9XS
SO y'all 'real' Teen Titans fans watched a whole episode where Starfire experiences racism for being Tamaranian. But you still decided sending racist, hateful messages to a woman who had no control over the trailer, her costume, or makeup was okay? Get fucked.
Especially when other comic book characters have been whitewashed without similar pushback.
The same people complaining that Starfire is a black woman in #Titans didn't blink an eye when they made the Ancient One in D*ct*r Str*nge a white person. Tea is still delicious, though. https://t.co/X6H1MqNAHM
@ajplus But it’s ok when they cast non-black people for black comic book characters :/
Fans are now using the hashtag #IStandByAnnaDiop to show their support for the actor.
.@TheAnnaDiop is an amazing Starfire and deserves nothing but love #IStandByAnnaDiop
#IStandbyAnnaDiop I can’t believe we had to make a hashtag just because of some ignorant locals and racists, but here’s the truth: ANNA DIOP WILL DO AMAZING AS STARFIRE AND SHE DOESN’T DESERVE ANY OF YOUR HATE
anna diop is a beautiful and talented woman who deserves all the love and respect. we can’t wait to see this duo together in @DCUTitans! · #IStandByAnnaDiop 💜🔥 https://t.co/dGyds1h8Lk
Ever since you were casted as Starfire you’ve been receiving a lot of hate, racist comments and we can’t imagine what you are going through but we’d like to let you know that we love and support you and like to thank you for being our princess kory @TheAnnaDiop #IStandByAnnaDiop https://t.co/oZPBbnd2TF
