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Karen director defends trailer for ‘cringe’ racially-charged horror and Taryn Manning casting after brutal roasting

Taryn Manning stars as racist neighbour Karen in the eponymous movie (Picture: BET)

The director of upcoming horror Karen has defended the movie and the casting of Taryn Manning after social media users brutally mocked the trailer.

A teaser for the BET film, directed by Coke Daniels, was released last week and sees Orange Is The New Black actress Taryn as the titular character Karen, a racist white woman who terrorises her Black neighbours.

It’s inspired by the nickname for real life white women who have been caught on camera racially abusing African-Americans. 

However, many found the trailer to be too on-the-nose and hailed it as a ‘Get Out knock-off’, in reference to Jordan Peele’s Oscar-nominated horror which expertly tackled racism and social injustice through dark comedy. 

The decision to cast Taryn as Karen has also been scrutinised as the actress has previously been accused of supporting Donald Trump and undermining the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Reacting to the backlash, Karen director Daniels told The Daily Beast: ‘I’m gonna be honest with you: I loved it. I fully expected this when I wrote that ominous word on the title page. 

‘What’s amazing about it is, the point of us making this film was to spark dialogue and continue conversations about social injustice and racism in this country, and with all the hype, hysteria, love hate, everything, it just creates the perfect platform for us to really set the stage for that discussion.’ 

Daniels said that while he ‘respects everyone’s opinion’, he feels it’s important to talk about ‘some ugly truths’. 

The filmmaker was particularly supportive of Taryn, 42, while calling out cancel culture for resurfacing her past social media posts. 

I just finally saw the trailer for that KAREN ‘horror’ movie. I can’t stop laughing.

Its unbelievably cringe! Its like someone took every woke stereotype and fear mongering about race relations and put it into a blender without nuance or subtlety.
No surprise its from BET. 🤦🏿‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/W5MbiaKwgP

— Juno Maxwell (@Goddess_Maxwell) June 22, 2021

That ‘Karen’ trailer thing is from SNL right? No way that’s a real movie

— Poso (@JackPosobiec) June 22, 2021

I saw the Karen trailer and thought it was a comedy sketch, but I’m surprised the movie is actually real pic.twitter.com/teIZNPewjV

— Happy Dino8k 🇺🇸🈁🦖 (@8kDino) June 26, 2021

‘I’m hearing about a lot of that for the first time – I was aware of some of it – but again, she’s an actress. She was right for the role. I didn’t hire her for her political views; I hired her to play Karen. And she did an incredible job,’ he said. 

Daniels continued: ‘From day one she showed nothing but care and empathy for people. She’s a very loving and caring person and she lives out loud and expresses her opinion. 

More: US Showbiz news

‘We all have different opinions – and I can’t talk about that, because I’m not familiar with that – but I hired her for the role because she’s an incredible actress, and she’s also one of the only actresses in this business bold enough to take this role and deliver the goods.’ 

A release date for Karen, which also stars Cory Hardrict and Jasmine Burke, is yet to be announced.

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