John Boyega hits out at Samuel L Jackson over black British actors criticism

The actor accused Jackson of starting a "stupid a** conflict"

Having his say: John Boyega hit out at Samuel L Jackson on Twitter

Dave Benett

Emma Powell8 March 2017

John Boyega has hit out at Samuel L. Jackson after he criticised the casting of black British actors as African Americans.

Boyega accused Jackson of starting a “stupid a** conflict” after he suggested Brit Daniel Kaluuya wouldn’t be able to understand the difficulties experienced by African-Americans in Jordan Peele’s new comedy horror Get Out.

Speaking about the film – which follows Kaluuya’s character as he is introduced to his white girlfriend’s family for the first time – Jackson told Hot 100: “Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for a hundred years.

“What would a brother from America have made of that role?

Criticised: Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams as Chris and Rose in Get Out

“Some things are universal but [not everything is].”

Boyega hit out at Jackson on Twitter, posting: “Black brits vs African American. A stupid a** conflict we don't have time for.”

Hitting back: John Boyega's response to Samuel L Jackson

Twitter/ John Boyega

Peele recently opened up about his concerns with casting a British actor for an African American chacter.

John Boyega takes over as the train announcer on South Eastern Rail

“I didn’t want to go with a British actor because this movie was so much about representation of the African American experience,” he told the Guardian. “Early on, Daniel and I had a Skype session where we talked about this and I was made to understand how universal this issue is.”

He continued: “Once I’d wrapped my head around how universal these themes were, it became easy for me to pick Daniel, because at the end of the day, he was the best person for the role. He did the audition and it was a slam dunk.”