In 2014, it was announced that Zendaya would be playing Aaliyah in the Lifetime biopic, “Aaliyah: Princess of R&B,” about the late singer’s life. As noted by The Blast, the script for the film was going to be based on Christopher Farley’s book about the deceased icon, “Aaliyah: More Than a Woman.” However, soon after the announcement, it was revealed that Zendaya would no longer be taking the role.
In a since-deleted Instagram video upload (per The Blast), the “Something New” hitmaker informed fans as to why she was not participating anymore. “The reason why I chose not to do the Aaliyah movie had nothing to do with the haters or people telling me I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t talented enough or I wasn’t black enough. It had absolutely nothing to do with that,” she said. “The main reasons were the production value wasn’t there.” Zendaya stated she tried to reach out to Aaliyah’s family in hope of getting their approval and even mentioned there were complications with the music rights as her family wasn’t happy with her music being used or of the idea of the movie as a whole, per The Hollywood Reporter. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, Zendaya was expected to record four of Aaliyah’s songs for the movie.
After Zendaya pulled out, Alexandra Shipp stepped in to portray Aaliyah, who she congratulated.
