- KJ Apa reacted to fans who have criticized him for staying silent about the Black Lives Matter movement on social media.
- “I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support black lives – but I don’t feel it’s necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests,” the actor wrote in response to a tweet from comedian Elijah Daniel.
- Fans urged the “Riverdale” star, who has millions of followers online, to use his platform to share information regarding donating, protesting, and other ways to help.
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“Riverdale” star KJ Apa responded after being called out for his lack of social media posts about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support black lives – but I don’t feel it’s necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests,” the 22-year-old actor wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support black lives – but I don’t feel it’s necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests.
— KJ Apa (@kj_apa) June 15, 2020
Apa's comments were prompted by a tweet from comedian Elijah Daniel, who called out the actor for starring in a 2018 film adaptation of Angie Thomas' novel "The Hate U Give" (which addresses police brutality and racism) but remaining "silent" about current events.
Daniel wrote, "if KJ was the co-star of that movie why is he so silent? he has such a massive young audience and got paid to be in a movie about police brutality and ... posted a black square?"
i love that movie but i do have a question, completely unrelated to the beef i formerly had with him, if KJ was the co-star of that movie why is he so silent? he has such a massive young audience and got paid to be in a movie about police brutality and ... posted a black square? https://t.co/2UP5mvWhiR
— elijah daniel (@elijahdaniel) June 7, 2020
He later responded to Apa and said: "I didn't say you needed to prove anything, this was a question about you not using your extremely large platform after being paid to be in a film about police brutality."
The aforementioned black square was a reference to the image Apa posted on his Instagram on June 2 to mark Blackout Tuesday, a social media action meant to show solidarity amid the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality protests across the US.
Aside from the Blackout Tuesday post, Apa hasn't shared resources with fans regarding Black Lives Matter.
Fans argued that the New Zealand native, who has 18.3 million followers on Instagram and 2.1 million followers on Twitter, should use his platform to be more proactive by sharing information regarding donating, protesting, and other ways to help.
Apa's followers urged him to speak out not to "prove" that he's a supporter, but to amplify the movement. They also said that "staying silent is a part of the problem."
yeah but im pretty sure you have BLACK fans that would appreciate if you supported them. you have a platform. use it
— lauren⁷ daniel pinned (@needycv) June 15, 2020
Posting on social media is not to “prove” anything. It’s to spread awareness and give resources to your followers to help. With someone that has such a big platform, one would think to use it to make a difference.
— Tara (@taratofi__) June 15, 2020
staying silent is a part of the problem sir.... if you have a platform USE IT TO EDUCATE YOUR FANS AND OTHER.
— laura (@elizabethjcnes) June 15, 2020
please use your platform. this is super important and it seems like you’re ignoring it on social media? you have a huge following and most of them are expecting you to say something.
— 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞˚₊✩‧₊ (@needyreinhart) June 15, 2020
tf? thats not an answer? you have millions of followers and could be doing great things with that. do better
— mali (@malisedits) June 15, 2020
That is a major cop out my dude, you have millions of followers why wouldn’t you use your platform to do good
— lil (@heyitslilmarcs) June 15, 2020
don’t see the point in having a platform as large as yours if you’re not gonna use EVERY opportunity to post your support for blm. I can’t comprehend why you aren’t??instead of making guitar videos, that could’ve been swipe up links to petitions. be supportive, feed the change
— katie (@barchiefeel) June 15, 2020
it's not about proving anything, kj. it's about using your privelege, the voice you have and millions doesn't, to demand justice. it's really about taking action. if we don't stay at their throats justice won't be served.
— monique (@cherrycoIe) June 15, 2020
yeah he has such a big platform if he were to share resources, go protests it will inspire his fan base to do so as well and help people get resources needed to educate themselves. it’s sad when teenagers on stan twitter are doing more than actual celebrities like kj
— 𝙹𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚊 bIm (@greatestloss) June 15, 2020
this isn’t about posting your attendance at those protest, it’s about information and education that fortunately you can do it posting it on your social media where millions of people are going to see it, so please, use the power that you have. ❤️
— anto (@sprousecabello) June 15, 2020
Maybe Use your platform to spread information on petitions, protests, where to donate, how to make a change (big or small).
Encourage your fans to become informed.
Its not about proving if you go to a protest; its about using your privilege to help those that don’t have it. pic.twitter.com/UTNxuFpuSh— 크리스티나 (@vaneza2) June 15, 2020
it’s not about proving anything. you have a huge platform to post petitions, donation links, articles, protest information, etc. but you don’t think that’s necessary? you have the privilege to influence millions of people, so please don’t be silent.
— liv (@madisondoIan) June 15, 2020
this isn’t about you posting your attendance at protests. it’s so much bigger than you! you have an enormous platform. you could be sharing donation links, donating yourself, sharing petitions, spreading awareness of the human rights violations. silence is violence.
— BLACK LIVES ARE SACRED (@voyagerdrive) June 15, 2020
Other fans said that Apa shouldn't feel obligated to post about BLM in order to show solidarity.
"@kj_apa is not obligated to post on social media if he doesn't want to. He could be going to protests, donating and doing so much more OFFLINE. Why is everyone so quick to assume?" Twitter user @HiramTrash wrote.
Social media doesn’t mean anything. He is going to the protests but that doesn’t mean he has to post about it he believes in the BLM movement but he doesn’t have to post about it
— Maria Mankin (@mankin_maria) June 15, 2020
Apa's recent posts on social media have mainly shown him playing guitar or sharing footage of nature.
http://instagr.am/p/CBPXeWfFBRu
However, Twitter user @afwassel said that they saw Apa and "Riverdale" costar Charles Melton at a protest in Missoula, Montana, on Sunday. Apa was also seen posing with fans in Missoula in a photo shared online.
"Today at the #Missoula #BLM protest, I was next to @kj_apa. It was sorta surreal to be protesting next to Archie. Life is f---ing wild," the person wrote.
Apa appears to be traveling with Melton and "Riverdale" alum Rob Raco. Apa's social media silence regarding BLM contrasted the actions of his "Riverdale" costars.
Cole Sprouse recently said that he was arrested during a BLM demonstration in Santa Monica, California. Days later, he was photographed at a protest with costar Madelaine Petsch, model Kaia Gerber, and actors Eiza Gonzalez and Margaret Qualley.
Petsch and costar Camila Mendes also appeared to be at the same protest together on June 3.
Lili Reinhart posted about protests and has been using her Instagram account to host livestreams and amplify Black voices.
Meanwhile, Vanessa Morgan has spoken about Black representation in the media and "being used as sidekick non-dimensional characters to our white leads."
Morgan said that she's "the only black series regular but also paid the least" on "Riverdale" and said she was "used as the token biracial bisexual." Her comments were met with support from costars Reinhart, Ashleigh Murray, and Asha Bromfield, who slammed the show's treatment of the Pussycats.
The actress later said that she'll be supporting Black designers going forward and made it clear that she'll be more selective about the roles she takes and will "fight" for her Black fans.
- Read more:
- How Hollywood stars are vowing to change to support Black Lives Matter
- Dylan Sprouse says 'Riverdale' costars KJ Apa and Cole Sprouse are quarantined together
- All your questions about season 5 of 'Riverdale' answered
- Here's where every major character ended up on the season 4 finale of 'Riverdale'