A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away feels a little too close for comfort when it comes to issues of bigotry.
But racism, misogyny and homophobia have all been issues among the Star Wars fandom.
Most recently, Moses Ingram who plays a villain in a new Star Wars show on Disney+ is getting a lot of racist comments online from the same demographic that attacked other actors of color.
Ingram shared some of the comments she's getting on Instagram.
\u201cMoses Ingram posted an instagram story about the racist comments she\u2019s been receiving from Star Wars fans\u201d— sleemo (@sleemo) 1653976998
The fan backlash against non-White actors, women and any possibility of LGBTQ+ storylines have been coming from mostly White, male fans.
The comments have gotten so bad, the Star Wars division of Disney had to speak out.
\u201cThere are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don\u2019t choose to be a racist.\u201d— Star Wars (@Star Wars) 1653977714
And series star Ewan McGregor addressed the issue in a video message as well.
The new Disney+ series Obi-Wan follows the Jedi between the prequel trilogy—episodes 1-3—and the original trilogy of films—episodes 4-6.
In the series so far, the primary conflict involves Ingram's character. Despite Obi-Wan trying to lay low on Tatooine and watch over a young Luke Skywalker, he’s called back to duty when Leia Organa is kidnapped under orders from an Imperial Inquisitor, Reva Sevander.
Ingram portrays Reva, trying to hunt down Obi-Wan Kenobi and get on the good side of Darth Vader. Despite the show only having two episodes available for streaming, Ingram has been singled out for online abuse.
She took to her Instagram where she shared the hundreds of racist and sexist messages she’s been receiving.
The messages in support of Ingram came quickly after she revealed the hate being directed at her.
As with previous instances of online racism and misogyny—like the attacks against Kelly Marie Tran—the White male fans took to social media to claim the racist, sexist comments are justified because they don't like Ingram's character.
\u201c@wutangbeez2000 @Variety You can hate a character in a show/movie but that doesn\u2019t mean you can abuse the actor/actress that plays that character \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1654007225
\u201cReva is a bad ass and so is Moses Ingram. It should never be this way, what is wrong with people??\u201d— mike the wolf (@mike the wolf) 1654033990
\u201c@JohnnyDTheChee1 @starwars No company wants to make a tweet like this. ...but it's the right thing.\n\nYou can't be ambiguous about where you stand.\n\nThis needs to be confronted.\u201d— Star Wars (@Star Wars) 1653977714
\u201cMoses Ingram posted some of the racist stuff she's been receiving because of her role in Kenobi and this is what it is like to be a black woman in Star Wars. White supremacy is rampant in SW communities and @starwars needs to do more to protect their actors of color.\u201d— Shitty Star Wars Posts (@Shitty Star Wars Posts) 1653982643
\u201c@Variety Sad and unfortunate. Personally I felt like she carried the first two episodes. Her and Princess Leia in the second one. The fact that this is even a topic just goes to show how sad AmeriKKKa really is.\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1654007225
There have been claims she’s just being criticized for her character, but there’s been little seen of her character yet.
Reva is hunting Obi-Wan due to her job as an inquisitor, but there’s already big hints that bringing down the Jedi is a more personal matter.
On top of this, her temper is shown in direct contrast to the calm, cool and collected way her fellow inquisitors react. This makes her stand out amongst them.
Ingram isn’t the first to suffer from racist hostility from supposed fans due to her “character.” John Boyega, who played Finn, a former storm trooper in the sequel trilogy, got a years’ worth of racist messages due to being a Black man as a storm trooper.
Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in The Last Jedi, experienced similar harassment as well.
Ingram is insistent she will not let this deter her ambition, saying:
“I’m not built like that, so I really just wanted to come on and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places that I’m now going to put myself.”
“And to the rest of y’all: y’all weird.”
People couldn’t be more pleased at Ingram’s determination.
\u201cThis how #StarWars toxic fandom works.\nThe fanboys enmasse attacked one character in #ObiWan .\nWe know why.Then say she can\u2019t act. She\u2019s a classically trained Yale grad with an Emmy nomination for \u201cThe Queens Gambit\u201d.\nLast role opposite Denzel in \u201c The Tragedy of Macbeth\u201d\u201d— Bison4Life (@Bison4Life) 1653826599
\u201c@ZrestonC @screenrant I absolutely love the way it didn't happen bc you didnt see it.\u201d— Screen Rant (@Screen Rant) 1654000087
\u201cI think Moses Ingram is a great actor, Reva is a fascinating character adding dimension and perspective to the Jedi's fall and the Empire's rise, and this is a very joyful video. They're not just toys, they're symbols carrying multiple levels of meaning. Reva is here to stay.\u201d— Joseph Scrimshaw (@Joseph Scrimshaw) 1654016241
\u201cMoses Ingram deserves better. John Boyega deserved better. Kelly Marie Tran deserved better. Ahmed Best deserved better. I am so sick of the ridiculous racist behavior by grown ass adults who are throwing tantrums cause a POC is a part of Star Wars. ENOUGH.\u201d— fay/(x)avier \ud83c\udf3f (@fay/(x)avier \ud83c\udf3f) 1654004366
\u201c@StarWarsSkinny @starwars Wow when even Vader knows it\u2019s bad, you know you\u2019re in trouble lol\u201d— Star Wars (@Star Wars) 1653977714
Obi-Wan is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes weekly.
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