The actress portraying Annabeth Chase in 2010's 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' believes that the 12-year-old black actress is 'going to be an incredible Annabeth.'
- May 11, 2022
AceShowbiz - Alexandra Daddario is supporting "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series' casting amid racist backlash. The Annabeth Chase depicter in "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" and "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" took to social media to show some love to Leah Jeffries.
Making use of her Twitter account on Tuesday, May 10, the 36-year-old actress simply wrote, "Leah Jeffries is going to be an incredible Annabeth!!!" Her post has since garnered more than 50,000 likes and 8,000 retweets.
That same day, Leah said that the heavy criticism over her casting as Annabeth, who is described as white in the novels, has resulted in her being banned from TikTok. "My TikTok has been banned. I guess all the people did not want me to be Annabeth or something, they literally took down my whole account," the 12-year-old black actress told her followers, "So I now do not have a TikTok account anymore but that's not going to stop us!"
Leah also said that she'll be fine despite the harsh complaints made by those racist trolls. The actress portraying Norah Samuels in "Beast" stressed, "To whoever is hating, stop doing that. I know you think it's going to hurt me. It's not. You're just wasting time."
Earlier that day, "Percy Jackson" author Rick Riordan issued a statement, condemning those who "have a problem" with the casting. "If you have a problem with this casting, however, take it up with me," he penned. "You have no one else to blame. Whatever else you take from this post, we should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong."
Rick also wrote, "Leah brings so much energy and enthusiasm to this role, so much of Annabeth's strength." He continued, "She will be a role model for new generations of girls who will see in her the kind of hero they want to be."
Rick went on to note that the negative comments Leah has received online "are out of line," before stressing, "They need to stop. Now." He added, "You are judging her appropriateness for this role solely and exclusively on how she looks. She is a black girl playing someone who was described in the books as white. Friends, that is racism."
"There is power in plurality. The things that distinguish us from one another are often our marks of individual greatness... Anyone can be a hero," Rick explained. He later pointed out that "if you're still upset about the casting of this marvelous trio, then it doesn't matter how many times you have read the books. You didn't learn anything from them."
