‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ Under Fire for Disappearing Its Black Co-Star

The hit Prime Video series Daisy Jones & The Six is predicted to pick up a few Emmy nods when nominations are announced next month, including for indie starlet Riley Keough, who plays the titular musician. But before the awards race gets underway, there’s already some drama brewing online surrounding the promotion of the cast and the supposed sidelining of one of the show’s few Black co-stars.

Last Thursday, Variety released its Women of Awards Season cover featuring three of Daisy Jones & The Six’s female leads: Keough, Camila Morrone, and Suki Waterhouse. In the accompanying piece, Variety’s TV features editor Emily Longeretta wrote that she selected the trio for the issue because of their refreshing portrayal in the series “as a unit,” as opposed to rivals. Despite the profile’s emphasis on Daisy Jones’ female friendships, though, the cover curiously did not include Nabiyah Be, who portrays fictional disco performer Simone Jackson. Her character, the only Black woman in a main role on the show, is Daisy’s former roommate and confidant.

Upon its publication, Twitter users immediately expressed disapproval over the cover story, as well as the headline that the three white actresses—including the granddaughter of Elvis Presley and the de facto stepdaughter of Al Pacino—were “changing the narrative in Hollywood.” (Morrone, who plays the show’s Latina character Camila Dunne, is Argentinian.)

Read more at The Daily Beast.