Kat Graham on All Eyez on Me Controversy
Kat Graham finds herself overwhelmed by professional obligations. Aside from starring as Bonnie Bennett on The Vampire Diaries on CW, she’s busy working on music recordings, choreography and producing a dance drama for Disney Maker Studios as well as executive producing an NBC doc series about Motown singer Tammi Terrell.
But the Girls Trip actress also has another project on her plate — and one which may prove especially emotional: playing Jada Pinkett Smith in Benny Boom’s Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me. However, Pinkett Smith herself is unhappy about how their character and relationship is depicted.
Pinkett Smith feels as if certain scenes in the film were “reimagined”, leaving out key aspects that were meaningful to her and their friendship. For example, Tupac read her poetry during his show or they had an argument during her show were all missed by this depiction of events. Additionally, Pinkett found this version “hurtful”, yet still complimented Graham on her performance in it.
All Eyez on Me has been playing in theaters since Friday – which would have been Tupac’s 46th birthday – and has had a strong box office performance since. While some have expressed dissatisfaction with the movie from critics, there has been widespread support among Pac’s family, fans, and those close to him who enjoyed its release. Unfortunately, much of this negative feedback stems from Pinkett Smith feeling as though Graham did an ineffective job depicting her character.
Kat Graham may be frustrated by all the criticism about All Eyez on Me, but she remains positive in spite of it all. Recently she addressed this controversy in an interview with E! and suggested that perhaps parts of it may have been “reimagined” to add drama.
She continued by saying she and Pac’s friendship was something special, adding: “Tupac loved me, and I am eternally thankful. He had such a kind and sweet personality – trying his hardest to ensure my wellbeing in every possible way.”
Current projects of interest: She will star in RZA’s heist movie Cut Throat City alongside Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes and Terrence Howard when it hits theaters this summer; as well as reprising April O’Neil from Nickelodeon’s Rise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2021 film with Nickelodeon; Dreamworks/Hulu’s Trolls and Robot Chicken for which she provides voice acting services respectively;