‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ star Lucy Lawless criticises ‘Hercules’ Kevin Sorbo over racist Kamala Harris comments

10 August, 2024

Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Lucy Lawless has called out her former co-star Kevin Sorbo following a string of tweets about Kamala Harris and the ongoing UK riots.

Sorbo and Lawless first crossed paths when Sorbo starred in 90s TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Lawless in its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess.

In recent years, the pair have clashed over their opposing political views over Twitter/X. Now, Lawless has shared a scathing anecdote from the period the pair worked together.

“In his defence, I personally witnessed a time when Kevin Sorbo stuck up for a black man. against white people,” Lawless wrote on her Twitter/X account earlier today (August 10).

“The NZ summer, Feb 1995 when my character Xena was introduced into my husband’s show ‘Hercules the Legendary Journeys’. We actors were sitting around and I brought up a news item. I said, “Guys, did you guys hear about that woman and her friend who were brutally murdered in LA? I think maybe the footballer did it!” And [Sorbo] growled: ‘Hey! I knew Nicole and let me tell you… she was no picnic!’ BOOM.”

Lawless went on to say: “We were all gobsmacked. I said, “She didn’t deserve to be stabbed to death. He replied, “I’m just saying, She was a piece of work.” It stuck in my mind because those Americanisms were unusual to us. But we knew what he meant.”

The trial of Simpson, which spanned 11 months from November 1994 to October 1995, was one of the most widely publicised events in US history, with his defence representatives including Robert Shapiro and Robert Kardashian among others.

Simpson was famously acquitted for the murders, however, he was deemed liable for the deaths three years later in a civil suit brought by the victims’ families. He died earlier this year aged 76, following a battle with cancer.

The tweets follow a slew of controversial statements from Sorbo, who recently demanded Democratic candidate Kamala Harris prove her blackness by saying the n-word.

The former Hercules’ star has also recently tweeted about the protests and riots that have broken out across the UK in the wake of the Southport mass stabbings – which left three children dead and a further 10 injured.

On Tuesday (August 6), Sorbo posted a false image comparing the treatment of three alleged criminals which suggested a Muslim man had avoided jail for rape while three white men were sentenced to jail time for selling anti-immigration stickers and posting racist comments to Facebook. However, the man identified was not guilty of the crime claimed.

It’s not the first public clash the former co-stars have had over political views. The pair have been arguing online since 2021, when Lawless criticised Sorbo for “enabling” the Capitol rioters on January 6th, after he reshared a debunked conspiracy theory that suggested those involved in storming the US Capitol were actually left-wing Antifa supporters.

“They are the douchebags that go out and do the evil bidding of people like you who like to wind them up like toys and let them do their worst,” Lawless tweeted at the time, in response to Sorbo saying the rioters “don’t look like patriots”.

In 2023, Lawless called Sorbo out over transphobia, saying: “You who have EVERYTHING, why do you have to stomp on Transpeople to feel taller?”

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