But when that movie came out, you and the rest of the cast you were very vocal, um, about yes, how far we've come.

But really, how far we still need to G.

O uh, in terms of fighting for, for rights, fighting for the rights of people of color.

And you guys were very vocal about it.

And at the time, there was some criticism about that.

People thought, Look, just promote the movie.

You don't have to get into all of this And it's incredible that in 2014, when you and the cast were saying that jump ahead just a few years and it feels like, Tell me your impression, but it's shocking to me that we had to catch up to what you guys were saying in 2014.

Is that how it feels to you?

Absolutely.

And playing catch up is, is what America seems to have been doing when it comes to race, the whole not not just, you know, in the last 56 years.

But, you know, from the civil rights movement from, you know, the Civil War from the times of slavery, where black people have been going This is not okay.

We are human beings.

Please see us for who we actually are, which is equal to you the same, Aziz you in terms of humanity in terms of rights in terms of just being treated fairly.

And, you know, that was end of 2014, beginning of 2015.

And specifically one of the things that we were protesting with the film was the murder off Eric Garner.

You know that that at that time no, unlike we just saw with George Floyd, we were confronted with this image of this man being killed live on camera for selling cigarettes on on on the on the corner.

Which, of course, couldn't be more wrong.

Couldn't be more shocking.

Shouldn't be happening anywhere in the world, let alone in a bastion off supposed democracy like America.

And at the premiere off the film we wore, I can't breathe T shirts.

You know that murder was the first time we heard that that phrase become popular as it were, I shouldn't say popular or or widely used, which is, you know, I can't breathe because those were Eric Garner's dying words.

And so we wore these.

I can't breathe T shirts at the premiere on DWI met with all this backlash.

How dare you do this?

You should just be promoting a movie.

We've seen this in sports as well.

Shut up and dribble or whatever.

Um, and it was really shocking that we face that from members of the academy.

You know, people who thought that we were out of line to be to be to be protesting in that way, despite the fact that we had made a film about the injustice off voting being denied black people 50 years ago.

But here we are now, you know, Mike Brown happened in that same kind of time in Ferguson.

So you know the struggle, the struggle continues.

But I will say, you know, it was gratifying that we had that opposition back then.

And you know, this summer just gone.

You know, you see Myriads of people black, white, every everything in between wearing I can't breathe T shirts and you know, it's become something that you know.

It's it's harder for people to oppose.

Well, I will say, you know, this film I have coming out this week.

Come away.

You know, we've had backlash.

You know, people saying, um, there was one comment.

Um, that said, Here we go again.

Hollywood trying to erase our whiteness.

Andi, that's because we have in Alice Onda Peter, our film Come Away showcases Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Peter from Peter Pan and reimagines them as brother and sister because I'm their dad.

They are kids of color on, and these are fictional characters from a beloved fairytale.

Nothing tied to race, nothing tighter historical figures and people have taken.

Some people, I should say, have taken umbrage with the idea of Alice and Peter being kids, kids of color, despite them being fictional fantasy characters.

I know you know, we're still we're still dealing with some of this stuff.

Yeah, it's it's that is unfortunate.

It may be the case that, unfortunately, it might be a good sign that you're doing work that causes some people to be a little uncomfortable.

That's probably the only way you know you're getting somewhere.

I agree, I agree, and and that's how I now take it.

If I if I'm honest earlier on in my career, I took it more personally.

I was more hurt by it because look where human beings, any, any kind of rejection is something that's hard to hard to take.

But I absolutely agree with you.

It's, you know, we've seen it in this election cycle we're seeing in culture we saw this summer with the black lives matter, movement.

This stuff is with us, but the mawr, it is showcased as being with us, the more we can actually deal with it because there's nothing worse as a black person in relation to this stuff and feeling like you're being gas lighted you you need to feel crazy.

Really, We have Obama.

Come on, you know, didn't that for eight years of Obama solved all the problems we're facing now, which, uh, um sadly, is I think what some people truly believed or wanted to tell themselves to feel more comfortable about it.