Zendaya Glams Up THR, Laughs Off Spider-Man Casting Controversy Over Her Race

Zendaya graces the cover of The Hollywood Reporter and she’s clapping back at the Spider-Man casting controversy. She’s over everyone talking sh*t. Get the highlights inside…

Zendaya is in her prime and she doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. On top of being an actress, she’s making a name for herself in the fashion world (with her new clothing and shoe line) and she dabbles in the studio to bring some heat to the music scene.

Right now, she’s busy working on the acting wave as she shoots scenes for the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming where she’s the female lead. Yes, chick is ready to take over the silver screen in a major way.

For the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, the 20-year-old starlet served up some vintage Hollywood glam in a long sleeved chiffon gown, posing it up alongside co-star Tom Holland.

In the cover story, the super woke actress, who launched her new clothing line last week, claps back at those who have a problem with her playing a role in the superhero film because of her race. Some folks are up-in-arms because they believe Daya will be starring as Mary Jane. But, that may not even be the case.

“People are going to react over anything,” Daya responded. “But nothing [about who she is playing] is fact. It's like, you guys are just making shit up at this point and then reacting to it. Whenever we were on set, one of us gets some random character name [on the call sheet]. [Bloggers were] like, ‘Oh they must be so and so.’ And we just crack up about it, because it's like, ‘Whatever you want to think. You'll find out.’ It's funny to watch the guessing game. But of course there's going to be outrage over that because for some reason some people just aren't ready. I'm like, ‘I don't know what America you live in, but from what I see when I walk outside my streets of New York right now, I see lots of diversity and I see the real world and it's beautiful, and that's what should be reflected and that's what is reflected so you're just going to have to get over it.’

YES Daya, they will DEAL.

She gave a little insight about her character and whether she will be romantically involved with Peter Parker. She said:

“No [laughs]. My character is not romantic. My character is like very dry, awkward, intellectual and because she's so smart, she just feels like she doesn't need to talk to people, like ‘My brain is so far ahead of you that you're just not really on my level.’ So she comes off very weird. But to me, she is very cool because she's deep. She's always thinking about something, always reading. I like that. And I also like that I don't really have to do anything for hair and makeup. I just get to walk in and walk out.”

The “wise before her time” young adult also talked about turning her SnapChat into a much-needed African-American History class:

“I like to post selfies and fun things that I'm working on. But recently my Snapchat has become like a history class. I have become an African-American history professor. I thought, ‘People are going to be so irritated.’ A lot of kids don't even learn some of this stuff in school. Like how is it that some of my fans are learning more about black history on my Snapchat in second increments than in school? I feel like if you have a platform, it's your obligation to talk about how you feel. To me there's no excuse to be ignorant anymore. Everything is at your fingertips. You can't pretend like you're not seeing innocent black men being killed. We have videos, and they're circulating all over the internet. Or you can't pretend you're not understanding things about politics or hearing what people are saying who are our presidential candidates. It's an interesting time. And I feel like it's allowing us millennials to really take over.”

That's right. Take them to school Daya!