Cynthia Erivo Opens up About “Ghetto American Accent” Comments

Harriet starring Erivo is officially releasing on November 1.

Ahead of the release of her upcoming historic film Harriet, Cynthia Erivo addresses resurfaced tweets depicting African Americans in a bad light in 2013.

In an interview with Shadow and Act during the Toronto International Film Festival a part of her press run, Erivo shared: “I would say it took a lot of hard work to get to this place [of playing Harriet Tubman] and I didn’t take it lightly.” She also said, “I love this woman and I love Black people full stop. It would do me no service, it would be like hating myself.”

Erivo who is British received flack for allegedly tweeting about a “ghetto american accent” after one Twitter user wondered why she was given an African American role. Directed by Kesi Lemmons, Harriet will explore the historical figure Harriet Tubman’s life from slavery to freedom.

On the tweets:

“As for the tweets, taken out of context without giving me the room to tell you what it meant–and it wasn’t mocking anyone really. It wasn’t for that purpose at all. It was to celebrate a song I had wrote when I was 16.”

Harriet will hit theaters on Friday, November 1.