Do we like Michaela Coel?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Decent and on the right side for years, but the public record on the planet and politics is thin, so not a full ten.
Michaela Coel is the writer-performer who gave British telly Chewing Gum and then I May Destroy You, and she has done it mostly on her own terms. Her religious upbringing fed into Chewing Gum, and she has said she moved away from it after making close gay friends at drama school. She is a self-made storyteller, not a manufactured star.
The best story about her is the Netflix one. She says Netflix offered about a million dollars for I May Destroy You but wouldn't let her keep ownership of the show, so she said no and took it to the BBC and HBO instead. She said she was right to spot a lack of transparency, because exploitation was occurring. Plenty of people would have taken the cheque.
When women accused actor Noel Clarke of misconduct in 2021, Coel posted that she stood with them in their indignation and that the behaviour described was far from grey. Clarke denied the allegations other than admitting inappropriate comments, and apologised to anyone who felt uncomfortable. Backing accusers publicly is the sort of thing that can cost you work, and she did it anyway.
On the harm check, we found nothing nasty. She signed an open letter backing LGBTQ+ Ghanaians after a community centre was raided, and her shows include gay and trans characters. She has said she consults queer and trans people when writing them. We found no harmful statements, and no pattern of working with people who push harm. We found little on the climate or politics either way, so that is the honest limit of the check.
The recent news is about work, not scandal. Her BBC and HBO series First Day on Earth announced Thandiwe Newton and Ncuti Gatwa in April 2026, and she has film roles out this year. We found no court cases, no lawsuits and no allegations against her. That's honestly the whole list.
So would we support her? Yes. She has made a career out of insisting on fair terms, telling hard truths and standing with people who speak up. The only reason it isn't a perfect ten is that the public record on some issues is thin.