casting coup

Zendaya Coleman Explains Why She Quit Lifetime’s Aaliyah Movie

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images, Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

After Disney star Zendaya Coleman quit Aaliyah amid a cloud of controversy (Aaliyah’s family, for one, didn’t want Lifetime to do the biopic in the first place), Lifetime announced that they had replaced her with the relatively unknown Alexandra Shipp (from Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel). Wendy Williams, who is now an executive producer on the project, tweeted the news. Zendaya, meanwhile, took to Instagram video to explain why she left the movie with the note, “Let me just explain something … #aaliyah #respect”:

Here are the videos:

Actress Explains Why She Quit Aaliyah Biopic