'Moonlight' Director Shuts Down Fans Who Said He's 'Too Good' To Direct 'Lion King' Prequel

Barry Jenkins had some words for his critics on X, formerly Twitter.

The Oscar-winning director took to the social media platform to share a teaser trailer for Disney's upcoming Lion King prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, but the post was met with backlash from fans who criticized his decision to direct the film.

One follower replied to the Moonlight director:

“Barry, You’re too good and talented for this Iger’s soulless machine.”

Jenkins responded:

“There is nothing soulless about 'The Lion King.'"

"For decades children have sat in theaters all over the world experiencing collective grief for the first time, engaging Shakespeare for the first time, across aisles in myriad languages."

"A most potent vessel for communal empathy.”

Another fan then replied:

"Come on man. I interviewed you when you premiered Moonlight at TIFF, and that Barry Jenkins wouldn’t have said what you just said."

"You can do a Disney movie for the check, in order to work on your passion projects at a later time, but you don’t have to shill like this."

But Jenkins wasn't having it.

He proceeded to list "a few" things "that Barry Jenkins" worked on while he was writing Moonlight.

He included a nice intro, to boot:

"Bruh what kind of logic is that?"

"How about this, here are a few videos from the 'same Barry Jenkins who premiered Moonlight' (as you put it) showing some of the things I was doing in my spare time AT THE SAME TIME I was writing Moonlight."

Jenkins then informed his critics of those projects.

He wrapped up the shutdown:

"Children have figured prominently in every single one of the projects from Moonlight til' now without exception. Like... BRUH."

"You can say whatever you want about the film but telling ME that something I SAID about why something is meaningful to me for children is CAP?"

"Nah bruh"

Witnesses of this fiery exchange urged Jenkins to pay his critics no mind and encouraged him to continue pursuing the projects he's passionate about.

Mufasa: The Lion King comes out on December 20.

You can watch the trailer below.