‘Deeply Devil, Dishonest’: Netizens Fume Over Race-Swapping Of Netflix Hit ‘Adolescence’ Main Character

Last Updated:March 25, 2025, 19:43 IST

Netflix's series Adolescence faces backlash for casting a white actor as the main character, despite the story being based on Black man Hassan Sentamu. Critics call it dishonest and misleading.

The casting of Adolescence has created a controversy amongst the far-right in the UK as well as the US. (IMAGE: X)

Adolescence, the limited drama series by streaming giant Netflix, has earned the ire of a section of netizens who are enraged over the race-swapping of the main character.

The show’s makers have faced flak for casting a white actor as the main character even though the drama is based on the story of Hassan Sentamu, a Black man who last week was jailed for life for the murder of a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, in September 2023.

Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham have told media outlets that the series about a young British boy accused of murdering a classmate is about “male anger, male rage" and actor Graham told magazine GQ that self-avowed misogynist Andrew Tate also had an impact on the storyline.

Despite the show earning a mention by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with him even saying that it should be screened in the UK parliament.

But certain netizens have slammed the makers and said the portrayal of Owen Cooper who murdered his classmate Katie Leonard, as 13-year-old Jamie Miller, a teenager from a conservative British family, is “deeply dishonest".

“This is how Netflix portrays a 13-year-old knife murderer in the UK. Second image is the person it was based on," Irish “Far-Right Ideologue" Keith Woods, whose X posts have been reposted by platform owner Elon Musk, said.

He posted an image of Jamie Miller, the main character played by white actor Owen Cooper, alongside a picture of Sentamu, now 18, falsely asserting that Sentamu’s killing of Elianne Andam was the sole inspiration for Adolescence.

Sentamu’s Ugandan origins remain a point of contention for the British far right. He relocated to London at around three years old.

“Race-switching a murderer in your show to change the topic from immigration to toxic masculinity is so deeply evil and dishonest I have trouble properly expressing my rage," X user Hunter Ash said.

“Unfairly demonizes white working-class boys," Patrick Christys, a presenter of GB News said.

London, United Kingdom (UK)

News viral ‘Deeply Devil, Dishonest’: Netizens Fume Over Race-Swapping Of Netflix Hit ‘Adolescence’ Main Character