Charlize Theron: Thoughtless Comments About The Scars Of Her Nation
By: Flavia Lloret-Dryer
In August 2026, South Africa’s very own Oscar-winning A-lister, Charlize Theron,
faced heavy backlash, as she made ignorant, insensitive comments about a subject
that should always be treated with care - Apartheid. She reflected on her childhood and upbringing in Johannesburg, South Africa during the 1980s, the politically driven concluding years of Apartheid. This was a time of political turmoil as black coloured, and other people of colour were segregated, mixed couples were banned, lower quality Bantu Education was enforced, non-whites needed to carry their "dom passes" (Their ID booklets) to be in certain places, black people were not permitted to vote and many people of colour suffered from
interrogations and torture.
Theron stated "Every room in our house had a steel door. So, if you got into the front
door, the kitchen had a steel door that you had to unlock". As an isolated statement,
this is not necessarily problematic, as there was a lot of danger and political unrest;
however, what she said next headed towards insensitive and unbecoming territory.
The actress said that "the kind of violence that we were living in. It was
nonsensical violence, like violence that you couldnt reason with, It just...I mean, our
country was on the brink of civil war. It was like, it was frightening". Violence was
very prevalent during Apartheid, and the racial divide did cause extreme tension,
however, it is extremely important to note that it was not nonsensical and that many
nuances were present. On the one hand, the police brutality and the torturing and killing of Black, Coloured and other people of colour was nonsensical, as it was inhumane cruelty. Although, violence partly came from black and coloured people, they were not trying to cause suffering and harm but rather trying to regain their basic human rights on land that
was first theirs through protests.
As a white person, Charlize grew up with immense privilege, being able to receive
better education and housing, and not having to constantly be discriminated against
due to her skin colour. Therefore; she is viewing Apartheid through a ‘white bubble’
and complaining about her experience with Apartheid, even though she belonged to
the race that was considered superior. Many South Africans have expressed anger towards her thoughtless comments on Social Media platforms, while others said she was just discussing her own bad memories. Some accused her of painting a negative picture of South Africa and of discussing Apartheid without the necessary and relevant historical context. Dylan Miles, a furious South African, said “From now on, Charlize Theron is on my boycott
watch list for calling the fight against colonialism and apartheid nonsensical violence.
If you can't tell the difference between the violence of the oppressed and the
violence of the oppressors, then you are part of the system".
In the past, Theron has also been in hot water over tactless comments about her
South African heritage, as she said her mother tongue, Afrikaans is “a dying
language” and that “about 44 people” speak it. She dismissed her roots and
undermined not only her language, but the language of her family. Afrikaans people
were livid about this because Afrikaans is actively spoken by many people in South
Africa, Namibia and even part of Argentina. There are many Afrikaans books, series
and movies. She even indirectly plays an important part in the movie Hollywood in
my Huis, as it’s the main character’s goal to wear a dress identical to Theron’s
beautiful golden dress she wore at the Oscars when she won “Best Actress” for
Monster. Further this claim can be seen ignorant to the realities of our educantion system as many schools make afrikaans a compulsory langauge for everyone to learn and furthermore a requirement to pass in order to proceed to the next grade, so it cannot be a "dying language"
Charlize Theron is undoubtedly a phenomenal actress who has demonstrated her
range via projects like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Cider House Rules, Snow White
and the Huntsman and recently The Odyssey. Her success and her Oscar made
South Africa extremely patriotic and proud. Therefore, her comments are extremely
disappointing, and it would be appreciated if she treated her country with a lot
more respect.
Article edited by: Munei Zoe Mbedzi
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