Romeo & Juliet’s Francesca Amewudah-Rivers Received Death Threats, Months of Racist Abuse: ‘I Didn’t Feel Safe at Work’

British actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers is speaking out about the months of racist abuse she endured while playing the female lead in Jamie Lloyd's production of Romeo & Juliet, revealing the full extent of hate she was forced to work through.

“I received death threats, hate mail sent to the theatre,” the actress told British theatre publication The Stage in a new interview, published on September 18. “ I didn’t feel safe at work.”

In late March of this year, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers was announced to play Juliet opposite Tom Holland as Romeo in a limited, sold out run on the West End. Almost immediately after her casting was revealed, Amewudah-Rivers became the subject of virulent racist and misogynoiristic hate online. Commenters attacked her appearance and criticized her desirability so intensely that in April, nearly 900 Black artists and entertainers signed an open letter in The Guardian in her defense.

Now, Amewudah-Rivers has revealed that “the flurry of abuse was sustained throughout the whole job.” Rehearsals for the production began in April and the show's 12-week run commenced on May 23 and concluded on August 3 at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre.

“I think what I was unprepared for was how long it went on for, and also having to navigate it while doing the job," said Amewudah-Rivers. "It was four months of battling against this energy, and it’s something I still have to deal with. I really had to reckon whether it was worth it, this sustained feeling of duress.”

For months, Amewudah-Rivers says she faced relentless online harassment and received hate mail sent to the theatre, making for an “incredibly tough” West End debut. “There were many days where I didn’t know how I was going to get through it,” she told The Stage.

Though the Jamie Lloyd Company issued a public statement to social media in April condemning the “barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of [their] company," Amewudah-Rivers says she, her family, friends, and other members of Romeo & Juliet's cast, crew, and producers were affected by the harassment.

Her costar Tom Holland was implored across social media throughout the play's entire run to show public support for Amewudah-Rivers. Holland told British Vogue in June: “Fran’s ability to let the work do the talking has been a true lesson not just for me, but for our entire company. I can’t tell you how much I admire her strength and resilience.”

The minimalist nature of the production did not help, according to Amewudah-Rivers, as the creative preferences for close-up camerawork and stark costuming and makeup left her feeling “very exposed” while performing. “Off the back of the abuse,” she said, “Having to stare down the camera lens and have my face be blown up in this theatre was really tough mentally.”

Amewudah-Rivers is now using her experience to publicly call for “industry-wide” action and protection for marginalized actors. “It is not enough to represent our communities onstage, there also needs to be an infrastructure of support,” she said in the interview. "Safety has to be at the forefront. We can’t do our best work if we don’t feel safe, if we don’t feel held, if we don’t feel understood. I think more needs to be done, especially because I know I’m not alone. I know other actors who have had similar experiences, more recently, too."

And she's right: in The Guardian open letter published in April, which was organized by actor Susan Wokoma and playwright Somalia Nonyé Seaton, the collective of nearly 900 signatories wrote: “Too many times, Black performers — particularly Black actresses — are left to face the storm of online abuse after committing the crime of getting a job on their own… Too many times theatre companies, broadcasters, producers and streamers have failed to offer any help or support when their Black artists face racist or misogynistic abuse. Reporting is too often left on the shoulders of the abused, who are also then expected to promote said show."

Amewudah-Rivers sadly joins a long line of Black actresses who have faced racist vitriol after being cast in major mainstream productions, like The Little Mermaid's Halle Bailey, Percy Jackson and the Olympians' Leah Jeffries, The Acolyte's Amandla Stenberg, iCarly's Laci Mosley, The Flash's Candice Patton, and many, many more.

“I know what it means to move through life in a Black body,” Amewudah-Rivers told The Stage. “Racism is something we have to navigate every day, so I was very aware of the potential for something like this to happen… [But] for it to cause such outrage that I was cast in this role means we have a long way to go.”

Ironically, despite the tidal wave of racist abuse she suffered, Amewudah-Rivers was nominated at The Stage Debut Awards 2024 and for Best Female Lead Actor in a Play at the 2024 Black British Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Juliet. Amewudah-Rivers is honored by the recognition, calling it “a win” for the Black British artist community and the Jamie Lloyd production — but what she desires more than any trophy is tangible change.

“Theatre has a legacy of community, it should represent society. Especially in London — there’s a big Black British community here and in the U.K.," she said. "It shouldn’t be a surprise. Our histories as Black people have been erased, it’s about re-education. I’m not the first Black Juliet, and I won’t be the last."