Zendaya Is On A Mission To Change The 'Acceptable Version' of Black Women in Hollywood

There’s a ton of discrimination all over Hollywood, and many other industries right now – and over the weekend, Zendaya used her platform to call out colorism.

During a panel at BeautyCon NYC, the Spider-Man: Homecoming actor opened up about how she didn’t want to be the only accepted version of a black woman in Hollywood.

“As a black woman, as a light-skinned black woman, it’s important that I’m using my privilege, my platform to show you how much beauty there is in the African-American community,” she shared during her chat with Bozoma Saint John.

“I am Hollywood’s, I guess you could say, acceptable version of a black girl and that needs to change.”

Zendaya added, “We’re vastly too beautiful and too interesting for me to be the only representation of that. What I’m saying, it’s about creating those opportunities. Sometimes you have to create those paths. And that’s with anything, Hollywood, art, whatever.”

This isn’t the first time that Zendaya has spoken out about colorism.

“I feel a responsibility to be a voice for the beautiful shades my people come in,” she told Cosmopolitan in 2016. “Unfortunately, 
I have a bit of a privilege compared to my darker sisters and brothers.”