Former Disney Channel star Tyler James Williams took to Twitter on Thursday, April 9, and revealed to his thousand of followers that he received some major backlash back in 2012 for signing on to star in the Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine.

The admission came after a fan posted a video of the iconic rap battle scene between Tyler’s character, Cyrus, and the flick’s antagonist, Lord of da Bling, at the end of the film.

“Let’s not forget this iconic rap battle in Let It Shine,” the fan captioned it.

Upon seeing the clip, the 27-year-old actors reposted it and added, “I remember when people called me crazy for doing this movie [and] taking it seriously. Crazy to try to introduce battle rap to kids via Disney.”

He also claimed that people were critical about his decision to star in the 2014 film Dear White People, too. At the end of the day, Tyler told his followers to follow their dreams and not to listen to any negative talk.

“Learned to trust that crazy feeling. I’ve never regretted it. Take the risk,” he concluded the inspiring message.

For those who forgot, the fan-favorite film Let It Shine followed an aspiring rapper, Cyrus, who won a songwriting competition under a fake name. He let his best friend take credit for the winning tune, but it’s eventually revealed that he’s the actual wordsmith. At the end of the movie, Cyrus takes the stage and kills the competition during an epic rap battle. Along with Tyler, the Disney Channel Original Movie also starred Trevor Jackson, Coco Jones and Brandon Mychal Smith.

It may be hard to believe, but the movie is almost eight years old and after it first aired, the entire cast went on to nab some amazing roles and make major names for themselves in Hollywood. Thankfully, just like Tyler, they all remembered the epic DCOM that kicked off their career!

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