Drew Afualo does not mess around when it comes to calling out misogynist men on TikTok and is now putting people on notice after she failed to receive an invite to audition for the live-action adaptation of Moana.
The content creator is known to use humor on TikTok and shared a video where she made a case for herself to be given the opportunity to be part of the Disney film.
“I want to talk to you all about something a little confusing,” Afualo said in the video. “So, apparently, there were auditions, like an open casting call, for the live-action Moana.”
Afualo said she heard about the open casting call from her Samoan family. She went on to list films featuring Samoan people like Sione’s Wedding, Once We Were Warriors, and The Legend of Johny Lingo, noting that Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins “has five or six of the same Samoan people I have seen in many other movies because there’s not many of us so they have to go back to the well a bunch of times.”
The social media star went on to flex her friendship with Auliʻi Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the animated film, and also her meeting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, having interviewed him multiple times at red carpet events.
“Why the f*** has no one called me? Did my invitation get lost in the mail?” Afualo questioned. “Y’all got The Rock? Anyone else you can think of that might be Samoan and not a big bald man necessarily. God, if there was only someone I could think of that has a platform that is so incredibly interested in being in the live-action version of my own f***ing people.”
Afualo then said a couple of phrases in Samoan directed at the people in casting asking, “Are you mad at me?” and “What’s going on?”
Characterized by the humor she injects in all of her content, Afualo suggested she was open to playing Moana’s father if that guaranteed her a part in the movie.
“Anyways, all that being said, I am very interested,” she continued. “Moana people feel free to hit my line. I am super open to being a background f***ing person. I don’t give a sh**. I’ll play Moana’s dad if that’s what it takes. But please, for the love of God put me in that movie. If you don’t, it’s gonna feel real targeted. So consider this a threat. I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”
Afualo has over 8 million TikTok followers, accumulating many of them for her taking down men with bad takes on the same platform. She also hosts the Spotify podcasts The Comment Section and Two Idiot Girls alongside her sister Deison.
The influencer teamed up with Questlove’s imprint for the release of her book Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve, which is available for pre-order now and will drop on July 30.
The live-action adaptation of Moana is scheduled to be released on June 27, 2025, but will most likely be delayed due to the theatrical release of the animated film Moana 2 on November 27. Johnson is set to reprise his role as Maui for the live-action but Cravalho said she was passing the “baton to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent.”
