Will Zendaya survive this summer?

Zendaya is set for a very stacked 2026 - at last count, 5 major projects in the public eye; The Drama, Euphoria, The Odyssey, Dune 3, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. As the star power of most of these projects – even if not the main character within them – she will be expected to promote these projects heavily. Back in the day, or if she were a guy, this year would be the kingmaker – though she's already a big enough draw to helm major projects, this year is her graduation; a step toward never having to really do heavy promotion for her films again.

We all know what might come next.

With overexposure to the current internet specifically, and as the main pop culture topic of the summer, there will be people looking to be the first one to have a contrarian opinion on Zendaya, if only to diffuse the latent annoyance people will develop with seeing her everywhere. This isn't a gendered phenomenon, necessarily – we saw the same thing with Paul Mescal, and are seeing something similar with Glenn Powell. The internet discourse runs on engagement, and in particular, controversy, as it stops the scroll. Having the "controversial" or contrary opinion is a very quick way to get a ton of eyeballs, and for some, pay rent.

However, backlash to celebrities, specifically female celebrities, is nothing new – we know this. What I think is going to be particularly scary about Zendaya's summer is simply how easy it will be to manufacture a controversy around her without it looking like backlash.

Firstly, she's very private, which allows people to project all their worst envious tendencies onto her life. They will get to assume the absolute best about her life, and then judge her from that place. Misery loves company, and so this specific pile-on, though it won't get to be self-righteous, will be nasty and likely the largest contingent.

Then, there will be those looking for a political angle – she didn't say x soon enough, she didn't do y, she's wearing z dress during an oil crisis, etc. Though these critiques will get the benefit of the moral high ground, they won't hold nearly as much water. For one, Zendaya, though mixed, is still a visibly and proudly black woman in a deeply hostile industry – and, until recently, was still building a stable career from scratch, without Nepotism support. I have much more heat for her white male contemporaries on any issue. If anyone tries the "Gowns at a time like this" attack, many may run to the same defence, but my plan is to defend art. The fashion industry has a lot more work to do to prove it actually wants to act like art, and make political statements that move people, but I defend a diva's right to slay a gown during movie promotion – I don't think the gown is Hunger Games adjacent, and I don't think the gown is killing kids. If you'd rather everyone focus on something else? Then go focus on it, and get others to focus on it too.

But this gets to the final point, and one I made in a Video Essay last year when Rachel Zegler was facing similar backlash – A press tour, a red carpet, a Met Gala – though they paint themselves as exclusive environments naturally occurring, they are commercial outfits. They are, by definition, ad space. Billboards. So, too, in a way, Zendaya will be. She is going to be expected to use her corporeal body and mind in the promotion of commercial assets this summer, at a rate and scale that is rare for any actress; though Defoe makes tons of films, very few of them are blockbusters. Almost all of Zendaya's projects this summer are the biggest films and TV shows of the year.

For this pursuit – as a beautiful actress trying to cement her career, as a black woman trying to navigate a hostile industry, and as a human woman on planet earth – she is going to need as much grace as we can muster. So too we must find it in ourselves to say "Yep, thanks, will see the movie", and then move on to covering the War in Iran, the stealing of land in Lebanon, and the removal of fascist elements in our own governments. We must not fall into the trap of blaming the world's ills on Zendaya just because she's the most visible person we can shout about this summer. The most altruistic thing you can do is find ways to take the billions of ad spend she is generating, and use that attention to mobilise change.