In my humble estimation, there are three things Hollywood is known for: throwing money lazily at existing IP in search of those nostalgia dollars, Tom Cruise running , and butchering African accents.
Somehow, an industry that made 21.3 billion dollars in box office sales in 2021 (a down year) has continuously failed to get African accents right. Is it that the same industry that takes great care in meticulously curating most other details, even seemingly minor ones like flyers in store windows, just doesn’t care? Are accent coaches to blame? Are our accents that hard to imitate?
The accents are usually of two kinds.
- The regionally ambiguous (read: somewhat Southern African) accents that most Hollywood actors seem to employ when they’re actually trying (the accent most of the Black Panther cast employs). This honestly is only marginally better than the other kind.
- The parody-like, uppercase, overly mouthy accents that signify to me a complete lack of care to the craft ( Michael Blackson is a big culprit, which is ironic because he is actually African but tends to reduce the accent to something akin to ooga booga and has unfortunately been rewarded for it).
Ah ah. From Will Smith’s honestly disrespectful and poorly researched accent in Concussion to Forest Whitaker’s overly exaggerated accent as Idi Amin in the Last King of Scotland – Hollywood no dey try. The fact that the latter won an Oscar for his performance, in an otherwise excellent portrayal, shows that Hollywood still has a long way to go. #justiceforAfricanaccents.
The recently released, and overall excellent, The Woman King was a mixed example of how Hollywood struggles to accurately convey African accents. For starters, the setting of the movie was West Africa but most of the accents were of the aforementioned Southern Africanish variety. Viola Davis, not taking away from her all around great performance as Nanisca, gets a respectable 5.5/10 for her accent work. Lashana Lynch as Izogie gets maybe a 5, she provided a lot of the levity that certainly elevated the movie at certain points. It wasn’t an atrocious outing on the accent front…but wasn’t great either. The movie owes a lot to John Boyega, his scene-stealing Nigerian father accent, and his glorious hair/wig and costume.
A big part of this problem can be attributed to Africa’s lack of representation in Hollywood, something that is slowly beginning to change. When Africans play Africans, we usually get it right. Usually… looking at you Mr. Oyelowo, we will speak on Gringo
For your viewing pleasure… or discomfort, I am going to present five examples of African accents being butchered in Hollywood movies and rate them on a scale of 1-5. 5 being Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda (a rare example of relative competence in this area) and 1 being Will Smith in Concussion. Cringe with me.
Honorable mention to Leonardo Dicaprio as Danny Archer in Blood Diamond. To be honest, I’m just happy its not only black Africa that is suffering from this.
- Eddie Murphy in Coming to America
Don’t fight me please. This movie, for all its faults, is very enjoyable and dare I say it, a classic ( we won’t speak on Coming 2). Eddie and Arsenio showing off their acting chops playing multiple characters, the great set and costume design,… Shari Headley. But Eddie Murphy’s accent as Prince Amin was not it. It wasn’t bad, it’s not particularly insulting, it’s just…(3)
2. Will Smith in Concussion
*sigh*. The current standard bearer. As Will Smith alluded to himself, he sounds like a Nigerian with a concussion. In the everlasting words of Paw Paw (these guys truly have a reaction clip for everything) …”this is nothing but a mad joke, it can’t be possible“. But it was, sadly, tragically, possible. I really don’t think Will Smith put any effort into this vocal performance even while portraying a real person. I would be shocked to learn that any deliberate effort was made to arrive at that accent. Anyway shoutout to “Dr. Omalu”, he deserved better. (1)
3. Forest Whitaker in Black Panther
“The strrrrrength of thee blek penthehr will be stripped eh-weh“. The line that was memed across the world. This may be a bit harsh since Wakanda is a fictional universe, but comparing this accent to the more subtle ones that were employed by Chadwick, Danai and majority of the cast, you can see why it deserves a spot on this list. One has to wonder why Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, of Idi Amin fame, decided to go with this over the top caricature of a Southern African accent. (2.5)
4. Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda
The gold standard! Despite his unhinged British accent in the Oceans movies, Don Cheadle sabi this accent thing. His performance as Paul Rusesabaginaas was one of the better African accent performances. The subject matter of Hotel Rwanda deserved all the attention and dedication and it looks like Don Cheadle took his role seriously. Hiring a dialect coach and spending time in the region prior to filming. The set was also very immersive where the actors were constantly surrounded by Rwandan people music. We stan a focused individual.
5. David Oyelowo in Gringo
I really should break the scale for this accent that Mr. David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo,OBE, employs for this movie. He is a Nigerian, a British born Nigerian, but Nigerian still, acting as a Nigerian. He speaks Yoruba in the movie, praying and exclaiming in a surprisingly entertaining scene. Everything is set up for him to succeed, and he drops the ball in epic fashion. Like haba, D.O. couldn’t even pull off one of those “first generation child trying to imitate their parents” accents? He told his dad on the red carpet that the character was based on him, *cues disappointment African parent face*. Just kidding, just kidding, I’m sure his dad loved it. But please David, do better in the future. (<1)
I do think we are beginning to see things change. I certainly felt like the accents in Black Panther 2 were markedly better than they were in the first film. There are certainly more Africans represented in film and media and as more film houses continue to put out world crossing tales with multicultural and international casts – we should see that number steadily increase. Not including African brits who have certainly done an amazing job in carving out their space in Hollywood but in mostly American roles. It was very exciting to see Wale Ojo as Arren in the Apple TV sci-fi epic Foundation. A role in which he didn’t have to contort his accent into anything other than the polished wonder that it is. Looking forward to more of this.
