‘Bridgerton’ Actor Calls Out Tom Holland for Racist Attacks on His ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Co-Star

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story actor Arséma Thomas urged Tom Holland to express his support Romeo and Juliet co-stars after a “series of regrettable racial slurs” appeared online.

Black British actress Frances Amewudah-Rivers has been cast as Juliet opposite Holland’s Romeo in director Jamie Lloyd’s upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragic love story. Romeo and Juliet.

Following the announcement of Amewudah-Rivers’ casting, some haters on social media hurled racial slurs at the actress and criticized her decision.

Jamie Lloyd Company, which is engaged in production Romeo and Julietissued a statement last week condemning the abuse, clearly stating: “It must end.”

The message continued: “We work with an amazing group of artists. We urge them to be free to create without being subjected to online harassment.”

Now Thomas, who portrayed Lady Agatha Danbury in the costume series Queen Charlotte: The Story of Bridgerton, on Instagram, he shared a request from HBO actress Selina Jones, in which he urged Holland to also speak out on his colleague’s behalf.

Jones’ original post read: “You need to put pressure on @tomholland2023’s head. I need my man to say something, ANYTHING, about the disgusting racist slurs that have been heaped upon our angel Fran.”

Thomas then shared the post to her Story, captioning it, “So f**king true @selinasjones.”

Elsewhere, users of X (formerly Twitter) agreed that Spiderman the star needs to address this matter.

One person wrote: “I hope he talks about it, the abuse he is suffering is disgusting and unfair. “I don’t know why people can’t accept the fact that she got the role because of her talent.”

Another user

Following the recent casting announcement, Holland said he was “extremely excited” to play Romeo, writing, “I can’t wait to get started and I know we will create something truly special together.”

Independent reached out to Tom Holland’s representatives for further comment.

Amewudah-Rivers, who will be making her West End debut as Juliet, said she is “grateful” for the role and “excited to bring fresh energy to the story with Tom and welcome new audiences to the theater.”

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, written between 1591 and 1595.

The story of star-crossed lovers has been adapted many times on stage in recent years, an example of which was last year’s Almeida Theater production with Toheeb Jimoh and Isis Hainsworth.

Holland and Amewudah-Rivers’ version will run from May 11 to August 3 at London’s Duke of York Theatre.