A verified Twitter account run by the late jazz and r&b singer Nina Simone's estate slammed actress Zoe Saldana amid her controversial casting in the upcoming biopic "Nina." The trailer for the film was released on Wednesday, which sparked another uproar on social media regarding Saldana's role as Simone in the film, because fans believe Saldana does not bear a resemblance to the singer/songwriter and civil rights activist.
The trailer and poster for the upcoming film provided a first look at the movie which is set to document Simone's life as she forged a career as a jazz and blues singer. In both the trailer and poster, it seemed as though Saldana (a multiracial actress of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent) darkened her skin to match Simone's African American skin tone and that she wore a wider, prosthetic nose - which many fans on social media consider to be "black face."
Ahead of the trailer's release, Saldana tweeted a Simone quote which read, "'I'll tell you what freedom is to me- No Fear... I mean really, no fear.' #NinaSimone."
".@zoesaldana Cool story but please take Nina's name out your mouth. For the rest of your life," the Twitter handle @NinaSimoneMusic, which bears the blue verified checkmark, wrote in response to Saldana's tweet on Wednesday.
Although it is unclear who controls the Twitter account, Simone's only child, daughter Lisa Simone Kelly, has been very vocal about her frustration with the casting. The singer even rushed to release her own documentary about her mother's life, "What Happened, Miss Simone?" last June, because Kelly disproved of the "Nina" script - which focused more on her mother's relationship with Clifton Henderson (played by David Oyelowo), Simone's former nurse and manager.
"My mother suffered," Kelly told the Los Angeles Times in June. "We can go all the way back to when she was a child and people told her nose was too big, her skin was too dark, her lips were too wide. It's very important the world acknowledges my mother was a classical musician whose dreams were not realized because of racism."
After it responded to Saldana's initial tweet, the Simone Twitter account wrote another message to fans, opening up about the estate's experience with the ordeal.
"Hopefully people begin to understand this is painful. Gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, nauseating, soul-crushing. It shall pass, but for now..." the message read.
See the tweets below:
.@zoesaldana Cool story but please take Nina's name out your mouth. For the rest of your life.
— Nina Simone (@NinaSimoneMusic) March 3, 2016
