Amandla Stenberg took to Instagram stories on Thursday to clear the air after a New York Times critic shared screenshots of their DMs concerning the actor’s new film “Bodies Bodies Bodies.”
In her review of the A24 horror-comedy, Lena Wilson wrote that it “doubles as a 95-minute advertisement for cleavage and Charli XCX’s latest single.” Stenberg then responded to Wilson via Instagram DM: “Your review was great. Maybe if you had gotten your eyes off my tits you would’ve watched the movie!”
Wilson did not take kindly to Stenberg’s message, replying “Hey, Amandla! Generally a big fan of your work, but this sure is something. Really wishing you well in your career and life. Have a nice night,” before blocking the actor and sharing a screenshot of the conversation on her Twitter account.
“Always weird when the homophobia is coming from inside the house but this is something,” Wilson remarked in a follow-up tweet.
“Me: (spends one line of a 500-word review facetiously commenting on how A24 objectifies young women to sell content) Random men on twitter dot com and also, apparently, amandla stenberg: Local Dyke Cannot Stop Talking About Boobies,” she continued.
Shortly after the tweets went viral, Wilson set her account to private. Meanwhile, Stenberg, who is nonbinary and goes by she/they pronouns, shared their perspective on the spat in a video posted to Instagram stories.
Stenberg began by explaining what had gone down in the DMs, calling the cleavage line in Wilson’s review “hilarious.”
“I am proud that a piece of work that I was part of was described in such a renowned publication,” they laughed. “That is a really unique experience that I get to have.”
She continued, “Alright, OK, listen, I thought it was hilarious. I thought because Lena is gay, I am also gay, I thought as gay people we would both find this comment funny. I was also curious to know what Lena would say to such a statement, but Lena decided to publish it and also say that I am homophobic for saying that.”
The 23-year-old, who shot to fame after playing Rue in “The Hunger Games”, said she’s often faced commentary about her cleavage throughout her career.
“The intention of why I said that – and this is my experience as an actress – it’s quite surprising, I mean, it shouldn’t be surprising I guess at this point – the amount of commentary that I’ve received on my boobs is so extreme, and this has happened since I was a teenager.”
She added, “I could literally be wearing a t-shirt, and just because of the size of my boobs, there will be some sort of sexualization or commentary on my chest. In this movie, I’m wearing a tank top, and I know that when I’m wearing a tank top, the result is there’s going to be some cleavage, because I have boobs.”
Stenberg guessed that Wilson “was trying to make a commentary about A24 sexualizing me, sexualizing my body, exploiting young women in order to sensationalize them in order to make their media more popular,” adding that she “understand the angle.”
The actor insisted that the tank top they wear throughout the film was chosen “because me and the costume designer thought that it fit the character well.”
“And so I do get tired of people talking about my chest,” Stenberg went on. “It seems to be in Hollywood it’s not normal to have boobs that are above an A or a B cup. I’ve actually noticed this as my time as an actress. There seems to be a lot of unwarranted conversation around my chest that kind of baffles me.”
Stenberg wrapped up the video by insisting they wished neither “harassment” nor “any harm” towards the critic.
“You are allowed to make criticisms of my work, and I am allowed to have my criticisms of your work, and that is A-OK with me,” Stenberg said before quipping: “Thanks to anyone who has gone to see our 95-minute advertisement for cleavage.”
Later, Stenberg reshared Wilson’s screenshot of their DMs with the caption, “I will change my bio to Local Dyke Who Cannot Stop Talking About Boobies if you will?”
Watch the full video above or here.
