New Captain Jack Sparrow Casting Choice Left in Tears After Controversy Surfaces

Ayo Edebiri is making headlines after her encounter with Jennifer Lopez, when the actress had to apologize for her behavior on a podcast in 202o.

In a recent cover story for Variety, Jennifer Lopez disclosed that Ayo Edebiri, who won an Emmy for Hulu’s The Bear, offered her an apology prior to their joint appearance on Saturday Night Live in early February. Edebiri hosted the episode, while Lopez featured as the musical guest, promoting her forthcoming album “This Is Me…Now.” In the days preceding the episode, a 2020 instalment of the Scam Goddess podcast resurfaced on social media, where Edebiri had expressed critical remarks about Lopez.

Ayo responded to host Laci Mosley’s claim that that Lopez’s “whole career is one long scam,” Edebiri replied at the time: “Well, that’s the thing — she thinks she’s on multiple tracks, but it’s not her. I think she thinks that she’s still good, even though she’s not singing for most of these songs…A lot of the write-ups of the songs will be like, ‘J.Lo didn’t have time to make it to the studio.’ Like, ‘J.Lo was busy.’ Doing what? Not singing, obviously.”

Variety continued to share Lopez’s recount of the situation, “She was mortified and very sweet,” says Lopez about talking to Edebiri backstage afterward. ”She came to my dressing room and apologized with tears in her eyes, saying how terrible it was that she had said those things. She felt really badly and loved my performance because we had just done my soundcheck and she actually got to hear me perform. She was just like, ‘I’m so f*cking sorry, it was so awful of me.’” Lopez shrugs. “It’s funny. I’ve heard similar things said about me throughout my career, so it really didn’t affect me.”

During the Saturday Night Live episode, Edebiri subtly acknowledged the controversy by participating in a game show sketch hosted by Kenan Thompson. In the sketch, contestants were compelled to confront their disparaging remarks made on social media.

Her character said, “OK. We get it. It’s wrong to leave mean comments, or post comments just for clout, or run your mouth on a podcast, and you don’t consider the impact because you’re 24 and stupid. But I think I speak for everyone when I say from now on, we’re going to be a lot more thoughtful about what we post online.”

Below, you can see the skit titled “Why’d You Say It” that Ayo starred in while hosting Saturday Night Live. Lopez was the musical guest of the evening.

As of late, there have been rumors that Edebiri would become the new Captain Jack Sparrow, replacing Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean 6 film after Disney gave the original star the boot. 

Disney removed Johnny Depp from the $4.5 billion franchise after he nearly single-handedly brought the IP to massive success for his personal drama with ex-wife Amber Heard. Johnny Depp was accused of abusing the Hollywood star during their marriage, and after losing a defamation case against U.K. publication The Sun, Depp targeted Heard in a public trial.

Disney told Depp that they were cutting ties with the actor before a verdict was made, leaving hundreds of thousands of fans to sign a petition to bring Depp back, as well as boycotting future instalments of the film. In the end, it was clear that Disney walked the plank a little too soon as Depp won his trial, with Heard having to pay back Depp for damages.

That being said, Depp saw Disney’s lack of loyalty to him and stated that not even $300 million could bring him back to the franchise, leaving Disney in a tough spot as many have stated that there is no Pirates of the Caribbean without Johnny Depp. 

Originally, Margot Robbie was set to take over in a female-led version of the film; however, that plan eventually was scrapped. We do know that a script has been written, and now, there are rumblings that Ayo Edebiri will be stepping into the leading role titled “Anne”. While she would not take on the name of Sparrow directly, she would be fulfilling the role that Depp played as the leader of the film for five consecutive movies.

Edebiri has also starred in Big Mouth, Clone High, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and is a budding star in Hollywood. That being said, we do know that Disney does not like to associate their brand with controversy, as they broke their relationship off with Depp because of it, so this recent resurfacing of the podcast and Ayo’s rude comments may leave Disney taking another look at their new lead before moving forward.

Would you like to see Ayo Edebiri take over in Pirates of the Caribbean 6?