Aaliyah's Family Upset About Small Screen Film Platform, Not Actress Zendaya?
Aaliyah's family may not have as much of an issue with the actress portraying the late singer in an upcoming Lifetime movie as they may have with the fact that the film is not going to be on the big screen.
Aaliyah died over 12 years ago in a plane crash at the age of 22. While XXL.com reported that her former manager and uncle, Barry Hankerson, spoke about his niece being featured in VH1 bopic last year, numerous media sources like Variety have announced that Zendaya Coleman, 17, will portray the late singer.
While a number of people have issues with Zendaya portraying Aaliyah, 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.
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"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 New York Daily News Report. "I don't have a problem with her. It's never been about the actress."
Jomo insists that the problem has to do with the platform the late singer's story is being presented in.
"The problem that we have is that Aaliyah was an icon and she deserves an iconic tribute, not a Lifetime movie," Jomo told the New York Daily News.
A petition called "Stop the Rumored Aaliyah Biopic" was created on ipetitions.com to speak out about the small screen film.
"It's wrong that Aaliyah's mother or brother didn't have a say so in this movie that is being made. The fans didn't get a say so and neither did any of Aaliyah's friends," the petition reads. "As her fans, we're going to do anything in our power to stop this movie. Little do we know, this is hurting Mrs. Haughton and Rashad."
