Black Child Actress Harassed Online After Being Cast as White ‘Percy Jackson’ Character

Twelve-year-old child actress Leah Sava Jeffries has found herself juggling online racism and harassment in the days since the announcement of her casting in the new Disney+ adaptation of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels. Jeffries, who is Black, was cast to play Annabeth Chase, a character that was originally white in the novels. She has since seen a flood of both hate and support on her social media platforms, so much so that her Tik Tok account was deactivated—“I guess all the people who did not want me to be Annabeth or something, they literally took down my whole account,” she said on an Instagram live. Riordan released a statement in defense of Jeffries’ casting: “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.” It’s a wave of racial harassment that is all too familiar for young Black actors cast into originally white roles–Amandla Stenberg and John Boyega had similar experiences when cast for the Hunger Games and Star Wars respectively. In addition to the harassment, Jeffries has also been met with a wave of support from fans affirming that she “deserves” the role. Jeffries has previously starred in the TV shows Empire and Rel.