Actor Fired From Film About Police Brutality After Video of Him Making Racist Comments Resurfaces

Twentieth Century Fox has dropped Kian Lawley from upcoming film The Hate U Give after video surfaced of the former YouTube star making racist comments. Suggested Reading Chicago’s Mayor Claps Back at Trump Deeming the City the Next ICE Target Black Folks Have a Strong Reaction to Trump Dropping the U.S. in the Middle of…

Twentieth Century Fox has dropped Kian Lawley from upcoming film The Hate U Give after video surfaced of the former YouTube star making racist comments.

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The Hate U Give, based on Angie Thomasโ€™ best-selling young-adult novel of the same name, centers on the life of Starr Carter, a young black teen, after she witnesses a childhood friend getting killed by a police officer. Amandla Sternberg was slated to play Starr, and Lawley to play her prep school love interest, Chris.

Variety published the story on Monday night with a link to the YouTube clip. In it, Lawley, hanging out in a room with his friends, looks at the camera and says, โ€œWeโ€™re all black drinking purple Kool-Aid and eating Kentucky fried motherfucking chicken.โ€ He also says the n-word, which is bleeped out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oFb8YWVnuE

The YouTube user who posted the video says it is โ€œthree to fourโ€ years old, meaning that the 22-year-old Lawley would have been in his late teens at the time.

Lawley first responded to the backlash over the weekend via his Twitter account.

โ€œIf you donโ€™t learn from your mistakes, you can never grow as a person,โ€ Lawley wrote. โ€œIโ€™ve learned a lot and I am grateful to have the power to change. I never want to be who I was yesterday.โ€

โ€œUse your voice as your weapon,โ€ Lawley addedโ€”an allusion to a prominent line in The Hate U Give novel, which focuses on themes of police brutality and racism.

https://twitter.com/KianLawley/status/960262255647453185

Following 20th Century Foxโ€™s decision to fire him, Lawley issued the following statement to Variety:

Words have power and can do damage. I own mine and I am sorry. I respect Foxโ€™s decision to recast this role for The Hate U Give as it is an important story, and it would not be appropriate for me to be involved considering the actions of my past. I understand the impact and I have grown and learned since then. From now on I plan to use my voice for positive change.

The studio says that it will recast the role. The all-star cast will also feature Issa Rae, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith and Common.

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