Zendaya Coleman Playing Aaliyah, Speaks Up Amid Movie Petition
Zendaya Coleman is defending herself amid backlash after being cast to play the late singer Aaliyah Haughton in an upcoming Lifetime biopic.
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 will portray the late singer.
However, it does not seem everyone is keen on watching the 17-year-old actress, singer and dancer from Disney bring Aaliyah's life story to the small screen. A petition called "Stop the Rumored Aaliyah Biopic" was created on ipetitions.com which over 1,300 people signed at press time.
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"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."
The petitioner wrote about the movie being disrespectful.
"That is beyond disrespectful. If you agree that this movie shouldn't be made, you need to vote. If you really respect Aaliyah, you have to respect her mother and her brothers wishes," the petition reads. "It's only right. It was Aaliyah's life. And they're taking it too far now. We need to put a stop to this!"
Zendaya took to her Twitter to defend her new movie role.
"She's been an inspiration and influence in my whole career, her talent still shines brighter then ever, all I wanna do is honor her," the youg singer wrote. "Show how much she accomplished in only 22 years....she's beautiful inside and there will never be another Aaliyah, I just hope to share her beautiful story, and make her proud up in heaven #babygirl #forever #OneInAMillion."
She added, "I'm just a 17 year old girl who got cast to play one of her biggest inspirations #positive."
