Unfortunately, the racist harassment from certain bigots in the Star Wars fanbase has reached a point where Moses Ingram of Obi-Wan Kenobi is clearly being affected by it. Now, Ewan McGregor has become the latest to speak out against such hateful comments.
Because the Star Wars fanbase is as big as it is, it's not that shocking that it has its fair share of detestable bigots tuning in. In response, Disney and Lucasfilm have decided to speak up about it not just so that these bigots will stop, but so that the non-bigoted fans are aware of what is happening.
McGregor recently took to Twitter to call out the racist fans for harassing Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ingram. While McGregor thanked the fans for tuning into the show, he also took the time to call out those who have been unfairly harassing Ingram for the sole reason of being a Black cast member. He even went as far as saying that anyone who harasses Star Wars actors for their skin color is not a true fan of the franchise. "It seems that some of... this influential fanbase has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist DMs. I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart. Moses is a brilliant actor. She's a brilliant woman, and she's absolutely amazing in this series. She brings so much to the series. She brings so much to the franchise," McGregor said. "It just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this had been happening. I just wanted to say as the leading actor on this series, as the executive producer on this series that we stand with Moses. We love Moses, and if you're sending her bullying messages, you're no Star Wars fan in my mind. There's no place for racism in this world, and I totally stand with Moses."
The worst part about all of this is that this is nothing new, and it's not exclusive to only the Black cast members in previous Star Wars media. John Boyega was harassed online by racist Star Wars fans throughout his time portraying Finn in the new trilogy. Kelly Marie Tran was also harassed by those same fans while portraying Rose Tico in the latter two installments of the new trilogy. There is no justification for that, and there never will be. The fact that these actors are getting harassed while having done nothing wrong is inexcusable.
What makes this even weirder is that Star Wars has brought in more inclusivity as time has gone on without much backlash at all earlier. They cast Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, regularly hailed as a fan favorite, then later cast Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu in the prequels. At the time, they didn't get any backlash from fans for being people of color in the Star Wars universe. Of course, back then, fans couldn't contact them directly, only through letters and e-mail. In this day and age, now we have Instagram, Twitter, and FaceBook where the actors can get DMs. Why is there suddenly an uprise in lashing out against these new Black actors who have been cast in the franchise when they've been involved in Star Wars from almost the very beginning?
More importantly, what is the goal of these racist Star Wars fans? Do they think attacking someone like Ingram will convince the showrunners not to cast non-white actors in this franchise? Will attacking Ingram get her to quit being in Obi-Wan Kenobi? If it really bugs them that much, then maybe don't watch the series? Regardless, all these attacks do is hurt people's feelings and nothing more. If your main goal is attacking an actor for being a person of color in your favorite franchise, then maybe it's time you re-evaluate your priorities in life.
Obi-Wan Kenobi can currently be streamed on Disney Plus.
Source: Star Wars/Twitter