I tried to ignore it. What happens in Hollywood doesn’t affect me, but if I had a strong opinion, I would share it. However, after all the blog posts and tweets I had to respond.  Zoe Saldana is playing Nina Simone in a biopic, and I don’t care. Shadow and Act was the first blog I read with the news. I read For Harriet’s open letter to Zoe Saldana. Then I read Akiba Solomon’s heartfelt personal essay about it and I was moved.

On the other hand, I thought objectively about casting in other films especially Beyonce playing Etta James in “Cadillac Records”. That was controversial, and even the late Etta James was dismissive of her performance. I went to see it anyway, and the movie was not good. Back when Diana Ross played Billie Holiday, there was an uproar.  Honestly,  Hollywood have a system that’s broken and makes casting choices based on perceived opening weekend box offices. Anyway, after all this I finally read something that resonates with me, “Dear Black People, Shut The Hell Up About Zoe Saldana Playing Nina Simone“.  If you don’t like the casting, then don’t see the movie when it comes out. Buy Nina Simone’s records instead.