Many Disney fans consider Shake It Up to be its last most excellent show. For them, it was the final series of the glorious era, which was filled with iconic sitcoms like That’s So Raven, Suit Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, and various others.
What Was Shake It Up All About?
Shake It Up was Disney’s first female buddy sitcom. The show’s plot revolves around two Chicago teen girls, Cece Jones (Bella Thorne) and Rocky Blue (Zendaya). They get cast on a local show called “Shake It Up, Chicago” as background dancers. The friends navigate their teen life together, which is about keeping everything together, be it their family life, school life, or dance competition.
The Big Controversy
One of the early episodes of Shake It Up came under public scrutiny for one of their poorly written jokes. In episode 7 of season 1, titled “Party It Up”, a model said, “I could just eat you up, well if I ate,” and then laughed nonchalantly. The angry fans flocked to Twitter to share their reactions and tell Disney that joking about eating disorders is not funny.
Credit: Shake It Up
The scandal became huge when former Disney star Demi Lovato also tweeted and slammed the channel for being so insensitive. Lovato had left the show, Sonny, with a Chance to seek help for many personal issues, one of which was an eating disorder. Her tweet read:
“I find it really funny how a company can lose one of their actress’ [sic] from the pressures of an EATING DISORDER and yet still make a joke …”
The network immediately responded to Demi’s criticism and pulled the episode from the network channel. If you watch the same episode today on streaming platforms, then you’ll notice the line has been edited.
Shake It Up Reboot Rumours
Recently there have been reports circulating about the Shake It Up reboot. While fans would love to see the original Cece and Rocky back in action, it’s safe to say that it won’t be happening. After the Disney sitcom ended in 2013, both of the lead actresses went on to pursue different kinds of acting careers. While Zendaya shared in an interview that she is scared that people will dislike the reboot, Bella mentioned that the characters would be too grown up, which is why it won’t work. Right now, there’s not any announcement from Disney’s official handle, but fans are always hoping to see a reboot of their favorite childhood show.
Credit: Shake It Up
Are Zendaya and Bella Thorne Still Friends?
There was a time when every Disney starlet was said to be BFFs with each other. However, this wasn’t the case with Bella and Zendaya. The young girls may have been playing the ideal besties’ role on the show but the reality was far from it. While giving an interview in 2017, Bella revealed that she and Zendaya were constantly pitted against each other during the first season. She said they were always being compared and had to prove that one was better than the other. This ‘rivalry wasn’t only between the Shake It Up co-stars, it was something that every Disney leading actress faced.
Bella said that all the competition made the shooting of the first season extremely awkward. However, things changed in the second season when the young actresses had a detailed conversation about everything. They talked about their experience and their insecurities. After that, the duo really became great friends, so much so that they are still in touch. When Zendaya won her first Emmy, the Time Is Up actress congratulated her immediately.
Where Are Bella and Zendaya Now?
Credit: @bellathorne
The star cast of Shake It Up has only gone on to do great things in their career post the show’s finale. Many of her predecessors Bella worked hard to get rid of the Disney child star tag. She worked in various movies, The Babysitter, Midnight Sun, and most recently, Time Is Up. Not just this, Thorne also directed a short film for Pornhub. Apart from this, she has published four books and even releases music every now and then.
Credit: @zendaya
After Shake It Up, Zendaya starred in another Disney show titled “K.C Undercover”. 2017 was a big breakthrough year for the former Disney star. That year, she appeared as MJ in the new Spiderman movies and Anne Wheeler in The Greatest Showman. From there, it has been one success after another for the Replay singer. In 2020, Zendaya became the youngest woman to win the Emmy award fo Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama.
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