Some bigoted fans of the Suzanne Collins bestselling novel express their disappointment over Amandla Stenberg's casting as District 11 young tribute, Rue.
- Mar 27, 2012
AceShowbiz - In the middle of the good news that "The Hunger Games" has opened to a record-shattering result this week, there have been several unpleasant issues that were sparked by some fans of the original Suzanne Collins book. Several devotees, who were disappointed by Gary Ross' decision to cast Amandla Stenberg as Rue, have fired a number of racist attacks on Twitter.
Those bigoted fans were upset because Rue, who is described as having "dark brown skin" in the book, is portrayed by an African-American actress. A female fan complained, as pointed out by Jezebel, "Why does Rue have to be black? Not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie." Another fan wrote, "Why is Rue a little black girl? #sticktothebookDUDE."
More racist tweet came from a fan who posted, "Why did the producer make all the good characters black?" Another person wrote, "I'm still pissed that Rue is black", while there was also someone who tweeted, "Ewwww Rue is blac?? I'm not watching." One other Twitter user added, "Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the innocent blonde girl you picture."
Decrying the racist attacks wave phenomenon is a Tumbler blog called "Hunger Games Tweets", which clarified that those harsh reactions "are all based on feelings of disgust." The blog added, "These people are MAD that the girl that they cried over while reading the book was 'some black girl' all along. So now they're angry. Wasted tears, wasted emotions... This is a BIG problem." Representative from the movie has yet to make a comment regarding the issue.
"The Hunger Games" has been playing in the U.S. theaters since March 23. On its debut weekend, the movie grossed a massive $152 million, making it the third biggest opening of all time after 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" and 2008's "The Dark Knight". It also becomes the greatest debut ever for a non-sequel title.
