Yahoo Movies Mufasa director Barry Jenkins responds to Lion King prequel criticism
Mufasa: The Lion King director Barry Jenkins has responded to criticism over his involvement in the upcoming film.
The prequel serves as an origin story for Mufasa and will see Rafiki tell the tale of his rise from orphaned cub to King of the Pride Lands during a conversation with Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara.
Following the release of the film's trailer earlier this week, Jenkins was criticised on social media for taking part in what one user labelled as Disney CEO Bob Iger's "soulless machine".
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"Barry, You're too good and talented for this Iger's soulless machine," the user wrote on Twitter/X.
"There is nothing soulless about The Lion King," Jenkins replied. "For decades children have sat in theatres all over the world experiencing collective grief for the first time, engaging Shakespeare for the first time, across aisles in myriad languages.
"A most potent vessel for communal empathy."
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Another user who said they interviewed Jenkins when his Oscar-winning film Moonlight premiered in 2016 then responded: "That Barry Jenkins wouldn't have said what you just said.
"You can do a Disney movie for the check, in order to work on your passion projects at a later time, but you don't have to shill like this."
"Bruh what kind of logic is that? How about this, here are a few videos from the 'same Barry Jenkins who premiered Moonlight' (as you put it) showing some of the things I was doing in my spare time AT THE SAME TIME I was writing Moonlight," Jenkins responded.
He then shared several links to projects he worked on during this time, each of which involved children or young people in some capacity.
The filmmaker concluded: "Children have figured prominently in every single one of the projects from Moonlight til' now without exception."
Mufasa: The Lion King is released on December 20.
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