Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, demonstrations demanding accountability within the police and racial equality are held all round the world.
Many celebrities, including Apa’s co-stars, have attended several of them in recent weeks – which led some to question why he’s been “so silent” on the difficulty on social media.
After someone recommended he watch The Hate U Give, a movie which stars Apa and centres on Starr (Amandla Stenberg) – a young Black woman as she seeks out justice for the murder of her ally – comedian Elijah Daniel wrote on Twitter: “I love that movie but I do have a question.
“Completely unrelated to the beef I formerly had with him, if KJ was the co-star of that movie, why is he so silent? He has such a huge young audience and got paid to be during a movie about police brutality and… posted a black square?”
Later, Apa replied to the tweet, stating: “I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support Black lives – but I don’t feel it necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests.”
I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support black lives – but I don’t feel it’s necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests.
— KJ Apa (@kj_apa) June 15, 2020
One fan responded: “I hope you realise that ‘I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me’ just shows how privileged you really are. You’re not using your platform for good, when you could use it for so much good & you’re not? bit of a shame.”
“KJ, Elijah is right… you have a very large platform that you need to be using to raise awareness about these things,” another added. “It’s not about proving yourself, it’s about speaking up and educating others.”
Source: digitalspy.com