Odessa A'zion heard — and listened. TheMarty Supremeactress announced that she had dropped out of A24's forthcoming filmDeep Cuts,just two days after the studio confirmed that she had joined.
A'zion was set to portray Zoe Gutierrez, a Mexican and Jewish character, in Sean Durkin's film adaptation of Holly Brickley's 2025 novel of the same name. A'zion, who is Jewish but not Mexican, received widespread backlash for agreeing to portray a Mexican character.
TheI Love LAactress was met withaccusations of whitewashingand capitalizing on her alleged racial ambiguity, withone person on Xwriting, "Some of y'all defending odessa and i don't like that that is a white woman PERIOD. Stop arguing about technicality of ethnicity and race, she is NOT mexican."
A'zion addressed the backlash viaan Instagram storyon Wednesday, where she shared a series of text posts. Apparently, A'zion wasn't aware of Zoe's identity and agreed with the criticisms upon finding out.
"Guys!! I am with ALL of you and I am NOT doing this movie," she wrote. "F*** that. I'm OUT."
The 25-year-old actress went on to thank her fans for bringing the casting discrepancy to her attention, then clarified how she became involved in the project in the first place — saying she had accepted the role without reading the source material.
"I went in for Percy, but was offered Zoe instead and instantly said yes! I'm so pissed y'all, I hadn't read the book and should have paid more attention to all aspects of Zoe before accepting," she wrote. "I'd never take a role from someone else that's meant to do it. That SHOULD do it! That's not me. There are a plentitude of people more than capable of playing this role and I am NOT one of them. I can't wait to see who it ends up being."
A'zion added, "Still haven't read the book but the story in the script is focused on Percy and Joe, so of course on my initial read that was my main focus as well. I was happy to be involved as a different role, but I just can not do it knowing more about Zoe now."
Her decision to step away from the film has garnered mixed reactions online. A'zion's fans are proud of the actress for clearing the air and "doing the right thing," though other social media users are skeptical of her claim that she didn't know Zoe was Mexican.
"You all ridiculed odessa immediately when THEY offered the role to her and she hadn't read the book yet and had gone in for a completely different character. She immediately took accountability and LEFT. Something a few other actors yall still praise have never done," anX user wrote.
Anothersaid, "I'm glad odessa isn't doing the movie anymore, but we all know that if she didn't get the amount of backlash she did, she would've done it."
Other X users are calling out what they see as a double standard, noting that A'zion has been accused of whitewashing, but notWuthering Heightsstar Jacob Elordi. In Emerald Fennell's film adaptation of the literary classic, Elordi stars as Heathcliff, who some scholars interpret in the source material as being a person of color. Elordi, a white man, hasn't received widespread backlash for accepting the role.
"I wish we made the same noise (which we rightfully made when odessa took that woc role) when jacob elordi took heathcliff, men have it so easy sometimes," oneX user wrote. Anotheradded, "Cancelling odessa but not jacob is sooooo peak misogyny."
