First of all I want to say that I never found Zoe Saldana to be pretty or even cute. She looks like a normal office employee I don't get the hype about her at all.
Now that that's out of the way they are 100% right about her being the wrong person to cast for this role. Nina Simone was famous for having very dark skin and a very wide nose and the thick afro. Her career was made difficult because of her appearance because she did not have the typical black star look of having lighter skin and straighten hair. She overcome a lot of obstacles and she became a figure of empowerment for black and African women with these features and she embraced this role.
Even with the extra makeup Zoe Saldana looks nothing like Nina Simone. There are so many other actresses they could have chosen if they want to get closer to Nina's phenotype. black women have a right to be mad about this because Nina Simone was a black woman and she wasn't one of those to try to distance herself from her blackness she embraced to she was people called her ugly and she didn't care. Even her family is against this movie because they know the casting is wrong. If this was anyone else no one would question why people didn't think this was a good fit. If they cast a dark skin actress to play Selena you think Hispanic people would let that go? It's just that people expect black women to be happy with whatever scraps they get from Hollywood. They have a right to be upset and I would be too if I were them. Her makeup looks so horrible because they're trying so hard but it's extremely unrealistic.
We all know there's different kinds of blacks it's funny how when light skinned women are being praised everyone's okay with noticing the difference between them and dark-skinned black women with broader features. But when it comes to getting a roll it's okay for light skin women to act like there's no difference between them and other black woman that is a lie. This woman is mixed she's Caribbean or some sort of South American so she should be playing a Brazilian character she should never be cast to play someone that looks like Nina Simone.
If there is no problem with Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone could the opposite be true? Could Danielle Brooks play Lauren London in her life story? Hey the are both black!
