There may be a little beef brewing between Kiki Layne and Alexandra Shipp but we’re hoping these two leading ladies can rise above the drama.
Layne is the breakout star of Barry Jenkins‘ masterpiece, If Beale Street Could Talk and during a recent interview with Variety she revealed she has her sights set on her next role and she’s hoping it’s “Storm” from X-Men.
“She was an image of myself, of a powerful chocolate black woman, and I just think that’s an amazing image to have and I really want to play Storm,” Layne said. “We are actively plotting, actively plotting.”
Only problem is, the role of Storm already belongs to Alexandra Shipp, who portrayed the superhero in X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016 and will reprise that role in Dark Phoenix, due out June 7.
Shipp responded to Kiki’s statements (and social media’s reactions to them) on Monday.
“I won’t ever bad mouth a fellow actor. I won’t ever actively try to take another hard working actor’s job. Y’all can keep trying to pin black women against each other but it won’t work on me, honey. Stay blessed,” she posted.
It seems Shipp’s problem had more to do with how Twitter was responding than with Kiki’s statements; either way she seems more than a little miffed and she managed to throw some subtle shade with that ‘I won’t ever actively try to take another hard working actors job’ line. It’s possible she’s a little sensitive about the role considering the criticism she received in the past about being too light-skinned to play Storm.
“Black twitter is so powerful. One second we’re trying to rally and define why our lives matter, the next we’re making each other feel like we’re not worthy of one. I’ll only spread and give love, no matter what tone my skin falls under. Bless up y’all ima go back to work x,” she added.
We can’t imagine that Kiki Layne was trying to come for Shipp when she offered up that statement. It’s way more likely that she was just giving an honest answer about her dream role without realizing how people would take it. Still, the damage seems to have already been done.