OlderYouTuber Kian Lawley Fired From 'The Hate U Give' After Racist Comments
Kian Lawley has been dropped from the upcoming movie The Hate U Give following his racist remarks featured in a resurfaced video.
Twentieth Century Fox will now be giving the Zac and Mia star’s role to another actor.
“Due to the controversy surrounding his past comments and behavior, Kian Lawley will no longer appear in The Hate U Give. The studio plans to recast the role of Chris and reshoot scenes as needed,” a spokesperson for the studio told Variety.
In the clip, Kian can be heard speaking the N-word and other racial slurs. “We’re all black drinking purple Kool-aid and eating Kentucky fried motherf–king chicken,” he says. (The video, which contains offensive language, can be seen in full here).
Kian was originally going to play the boyfriend of the movie’s lead actress, Amandla Stenberg. Based on Angela Thomas‘ novel of the same name, focusing on race and police brutality, the film also stars Issa Rae, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, and Common.
See Kian‘s response to the backlash on Twitter below.
if u don’t learn from ur mistakes, u can never grow as a person.
i’ve learned a lot & i am grateful to have the power to change. i never want to be who i was yesterday. we’re in a constant battle to become a better version of ourselves, use ur voice as ur weapon.
— Kian Lawley (@KianLawley) February 4, 2018
