Article by: Ntando Mcube
The Underground Railroad star, Thuso Mbedu was a guest on Ellen DeGeneres’ show for her very first TV interview which was not virtually done, where she answered some questions and Mzansi was taken aback by her American Accent. Mbedu has taken time to address the abhor issue towards her newly found accent.
Mbedu being one of the very few South Africans to have been given the opportunity on the show, she has been previously interviewed by Oprah Winfrey who told Ellen how amazing Thuso is.
“I can’t tell you how amazing you are. Oprah and I were talking about… And of course, loves the show. I was telling her that you were on today and were both in awe of you. You are incredible,” complimented Ellen.
Thuso then answered a few of her questions but Mzansi was thrown off by the American accent which she had going on.
Slamming the hate, she took to Instagram and laughed at the people mocking her. She said that was only a practice run and there is definitely more to come. “I see a lot of you commenting about my accent, I’m not gonna get into it now but I just wanna say I have not started, that was just the beginning.
“What you hearing now are just some of the habits that I have picked up because of the type of people I hang out with.”
She then mockingly said she will one day wake up and pull off an American accent some have not heard before. “People that day will cry out blood when I speak such an accent. Qhubekani!” which means continue.
Mbedu has been doing amazing things in the USA like appearing on notable magazine covers and lining interviews with some of the big shows. This is because of her amazing performance on the Prime Video series.
Sharing about the show and her character Cora Randall resonating with her own life, she added a brief and detailed caption on IG and wrote, “Cora’s freedom is tied to running and we see this as we go from episode to episode. Colson Whitehead created a human being that people can point to on the street. She’s a brave but also fragile young woman because of everything she’s been through.
“She has been hardened but not numbed as seen in her first act of defiance of protecting Chester when Terrance Randall strikes him. She’s tough but also exists from a place of fear that I hope one day she will be free from. Cora is… simple, but complicated. We are only as strong as our hardest challenge and, through Cora, we see that. She gives hope for a future to the everyday man and woman who, with each new day, find themselves fighting for something.
“What I like about Cora is that she holds the mic for everyone to be heard. As she goes from state to state, not only are we following her but by following her, we meet many others whom she allows to share a piece of themselves. We might not always like the pieces but they are as real as Cora can get. When she casts her light, the shadows of the nation are in full display for all to see.
“There’s a part of me that wants to say I saw parts of me in her but I don’t know if I’m brave enough to say that yet because Cora is so much stronger than me. But playing her did help heal parts of me I did not know were wounded—maybe that’s what drew me to her,” Mbedu concluded.
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