Image Source: Matt Kennedy/Lucas Film Ltd.
When actor Moses Ingram received hundreds of negative and racist comments on social media, the ‘Star Wars’ franchise came to his defense.
The Star Wars Twitter account slammed critics and said they are very ‘proud’ to welcome Ingram to the fold as she made her debut as Reva in the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
“If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist.”
Star Wars
“There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist,” the tweet added.
According to Ingram, there are hundreds of derogatory terms said to her on social media, and she posted multiple examples of it on her account. “There’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate,” the Star Wars actor said in an Instagram story.
“The thing that bothers me is … this feeling of like, I just gotta shut up and take it, I just have to grin and bear it. And I’m not built like that,” Ingram expressed. “Thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and in the places that I’m not going to put myself. And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird.”
The incident is not new to the industry, more particularly in the franchise. Co-actors John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran also became subject to racist remarks after they appeared in the Star Wars movies.
Tran is the first woman of color to appear in a movie from the Star Wars franchise. After her debut in “The Last Jedi” last 2017, she was harassed by many fans on social media. She detailed the incident in an op-ed written to the New York Times.
The intense comments Tran received prompted her to take a break from social media and to go into therapy.
After the actor’s appearance in the 2014 Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens,” Boyega was also met with the same hate and prejudice.
Opinions expressed by US Insider contributors are their own.
