Letitia Wright Says Her New Faith-Based Film Partnered With ‘Daily Wire’ Without Her Input
Letitia Wright has clarified that her new faith-based film, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, decided to partner with The Daily Wire without her input.
Wright is best known for her role as Shuri (a.k.a. Black Panther) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, she has recently made the foray into production, serving as a producer on The Silent Twins and Surrounded, which she also starred in. She recently took on an executive producer role for Sound of Hope. The movie tells the powerful true story of Donna (Nika King) and Reverend Martin (Demetrius Grosse), a couple from the small town of Possum Trot, Texas, who inspired its tiny community of 600 residents to adopt 77 foster children. 22 families resolved to help the children who had the most difficult time finding foster parents, providing loving and stable homes for many child survivors of abuse and neglect.
While it’s a beautiful story that advocates compassion and love for foster children, Sound of Hope has received some skepticism due to its affiliations. The movie is distributed by Angel Studios, the same studio behind the controversial film The Sound of Freedom, which has been called a “QAnon-adjacent thriller seducing America.” On top of that, The Daily Wire, a far-right conservative media company, is serving as a marketing partner. The company has given a platform to right-wing pundits like Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, who have frequently expressed homophobic, transphobic, and sexist ideas and spread misinformation and conspiracies. However, Wright says she wasn’t involved in the choice to bring The Daily Wire in.
Letitia Wright distances herself from The Daily Wire
Sound of Hope has begun to stir controversy, with many trying to turn it political and speculate on Wright’s political standing. As a result, Wright took to Instagram to explain the situation, confirming that she was not involved in the film’s partnership with The Daily Wire. She started by saying the movie’s sole purpose is to give a voice to vulnerable children and create hope that any community can aid in protecting and caring for foster children. Hence, she was all the more saddened to “see small pockets of discourse online take a divisive political turn.”
Wright emphasized that she believes the movie is far too important to become fodder for a political debate. As a result, she wanted to clear the air about The Daily Wire’s involvement. She explained that the movie was wholly complete when both Angel Studios and The Daily Wire came on board. First, Angel Studios signed on; then it announced its partnership with The Daily Wire, a decision Wright alleges she had no knowledge of despite serving as executive producer. She wrote, “That was not my decision, and I was not given an update or made aware of this decision. I am in no way aligned or affiliated with the The Daily Wire.”
She concluded that she still believes the film can rise above the political discourse and serve as a powerful reminder of the difference people can make in children’s lives. Sadly, The Daily Wire immediately used her statement to continue creating a political divide. CEO Jeremy Boreing stated, “Such is the intolerance of the modern left that instead of celebrating this accomplishment and all it might mean, one of the film’s producers, Letitia Wright of Black Panther fame, used the occasion to condemn The Daily Wire’s involvement in sharing this message across the country.” He went on to call her statement a “distraction” from the movie’s purpose that he hopes doesn’t “steal from the message of the film.”
The company could’ve simply echoed her statement that Sound of Hope shouldn’t be politicized, but instead, it had to fire back and make this all about the “left’s intolerance.” Despite their criticism of Wright’s statement, it was a very necessary one. She helped make a hopeful and beautiful movie, and now, she has to explain how a group with such a poor reputation as The Daily Wire attached themselves to it in post-production without her knowledge. It’s an unfortunate reminder that faith-based films are often monopolized by the right-wing media, who use films like Sound of Freedom to promote their ideas and pontificate about a country built on Christian nationalism. Hopefully, Sound of Hope’s call to action to help children will still circulate despite the difficult situation.
Correction: This story has been updated from its original version to clarify that The Sound of Freedom was not based on QAnon, as well as to clarify which group Wright disavowed in her statement.
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