Aaliyah Movie Put on Hold, Lifetime Network 'Sad' That Zendaya Coleman Left Project
Lifetime Networks is not happy that Zendaya Coleman stepped away from portraying the late singer Aaliyah in an upcoming biopic and now the project has been put on hold.
"We are sad Zendaya will no longer portray Aaliyah," a statement from the network reads. "Production is currently on hold."
Aaliyah died over 12 years ago in a plane crash at the age of 22. After it was announced that singer and actress Zendaya,17, would portray the late singer a number of people spoke out against it. However, the actress and singer's representatives revealed that she would not be involved in the project.
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"Aaliyah has always been a source of inspiration to Zendaya," the actress' Twitter account reads. "She was honored to portray her and pay tribute to her. If she is going to do it, she wants to do it right."
According to sources close to E! News, issues arose with production which included obtaining rights to Aaliyah's music. The late singer's family was not happy with the production of the film on a network such as Lifetime, and urged fans to support them in trying to stop the film from being made.
Although Zendaya looks to Aaliyah as an inspiration and spoke about her involvement in the film previously, she also recently spoke about the importance of having the late singer's family approve of the film.
"The family was my number one concern. My important thing about this was the mother and the brother … and that Lifetime reached out," Zendaya told Access Hollywood previously. "I didn't feel comfortable until they did. So they're working on that and reaching out to the family to make sure everything's ok."
Jomo Hankerson, Aaliyah's cousin and president of her Blackground Records label, insisted that the actress is not the cause of the family protesting the movie.
"We want a major studio release along the lines of 'What's Love Got to Do with It,' the Tina Turner movie. This needs A-list actors, A-list talent that can breathe life into what we think is a phenomenal story," Jomo said in a previous New York Daily News Report. "I don't have a problem with her. It's never been about the actress."
