Amandla Stenberg is speaking out about the Instagram DM she sent to a film critic which has since gone viral.
The 23-year-old Bodies, Bodies, Bodies star called out New York Times film critic Lena Wilson following the publication of Lena’s review of the movie.
Lena went public with the DM, and people have been talking about it since then.
In the review, Lena wrote in part:
“The only thing that really sets Bodies Bodies Bodies apart is its place in the A24 hype machine, where it doubles as a 95-minute advertisement for cleavage and Charli XCX’s latest single.”
Apparently, Amandla wrote to Lena:
“Ur review is great, maybe if you had gotten ur eyes off my tits you could’ve watched the movie!”
Lena shared Amanda’s DM and wrote:
“Do you think she instagram DM’d Alison Willmore, Justin Chang and Anthony Land like this or…”
And she also said:
“Always weird when the homophobia is coming from inside the house but this is something.”
On Thursday (August 18), Amandla then took to her Instagram Stories to post a video she made to address the controversy after facing a lot of backlash. She stated:
“I just thought I would get on here really quickly to say I’m receiving a lot of commentary on the internet for being a very naughty girl and sending a DM that I thought was hilarious. But basically there is this film critic. Her name is Lena Wilson, and she writes for The New York Times, and she wrote a criticism of a movie that I just had come out called Bodies Bodies Bodies, and she described in her review the movie as a ’95-minute advertisement for cleavage,’ which I thought was hilarious. I am proud that a piece of work that I was part of was described in such a renowned publication. That is a really unique experience that I get to have.”
She went on to say that she thought it was “hilarious,” saying:
“Alright, OK, listen, I thought it was hilarious. I thought because Lena is gay, I am also gay, I thought as gay people we would both find this comment funny. I was also curious to know what Lena would say to such a statement, but Lena decided to publish it and also say that I am homophobic for saying that.
The intention of why I said that – and this is my experience as an actress – it’s quite surprising, I mean, it shouldn’t be surprising I guess at this point – the amount of commentary that I’ve received on my boobs is so extreme, and this has happened since I was a teenager.”
Amandla touched on the sexualization she has long experienced because of her chest:
“I could literally be wearing a t-shirt, and just because of the size of my boobs, there will be some sort of sexualization or commentary on my chest. In this movie, I’m wearing a tank top, and I know that when I’m wearing a tank top, the result is there’s going to be some cleavage, because I have boobs. So I knew this comment was mostly directed towards me and I think Lena was trying to make a commentary about A24 sexualizing me, sexualizing my body, exploiting young women in order to sensationalize them in order to make their media more popular. I understand the angle.
I can tell you that I wore this tank top in this movie because me and the costume designer thought that it fit the character well. And so I do get tired of people talking about my chest. It seems to be in Hollywood it’s not normal to have boobs that are above an A or a B cup. I’ve actually noticed this as my time as an actress. There seems to be a lot of unwarranted conversation around my chest that kind of baffles me.”
And the actress concluded by saying that she did not mean to harass Lena:
“Anyways Lena, I thought your review was hilarious, I thought my DM was funny, I did not mean to harass you, I did not mean to wish you any harm. You are allowed to make criticisms of my work, and I am allowed to have my criticisms of your work, and that is A-OK with me. And I wish you the best.
Anyways, thank you, guys. Thanks to anyone who has gone to see our 95-minute advertisement for cleavage.”
