“There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist,” was the message posted on the sci-fi franchise’s social media accounts in the wake of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” actress Moses Ingram saying she received hateful, racist comments online.
Ingram, who plays Reva Sevander, a member of the Jedi-hunting group The Inquisitorius, posted examples of racist, bullying messages she received on her Instagram story, including uses of racial epithets and one which threatened that her “days are numbered.”
“Long story short, there are hundreds of those,” Ingram said in a video posted to her Instagram story. “Hundreds.
“I also see those of you out there who put on a cape for me, and that really does mean the world to me because, you know, there’s nothing anybody can do about this,” she continued. “There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate.
“I think the thing that bothers me is that, like, sort of this feeling I’ve had inside of myself — which no one has told me — but this feeling of, like, I just gotta shut up and take it. I just kinda gotta grin and bear it,” Ingram added. “And I’m not built like that.
“So I really just wanted to come on, I think, and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the place that I’m not gonna put myself,” she said, adding, “And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird!” with a laugh.
The franchise quickly rose to Ingram’s defense with the message calling out racism that was posted across its social media accounts Tuesday:
“We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold,” the accounts added.
“If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist,” the message concludes.
Following the message from the “Star Wars” accounts, Ewan McGregor, the eponymous lead in the “Kenobi” series,” appeared in a video message Tuesday condemning the hateful attacks on Ingram.
McGregor, who is reprising the iconic role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the first time since the 2005 film “Revenge of the Sith,” began his message by celebrating the series’ record-breaking success, but lamented the hateful messages Ingram received.
“This weekend, Star Wars fans made “Obi-Wan Kenobi” the most-watched Disney+ original series premiere of all time,” he began. “And for that, I would say a big thank you, and it just goes to show what this family can do when we all pull together.
“However, it seems that some of the fan base — from this influential fan base — have decided to attack Moses Ingram online and sent her the most horrendous racist [direct messages],” McGregor continued. “And 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 the series. She brings so much to the series. She brings so much to the franchise. And it just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this had been happening.
“I just want to say as the leading actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses. We love Moses,” he concluded. “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.”
Ingram’s experience evoked memories of how two actors from recent “Star Wars” films — John Boyega, who portrayed Stormtrooper-turned-Resistance hero Finn, and Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico — were treated by some fans.
Boyega told British GQ in 2020 that he was “the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race.”
“Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were in it],” he told the outlet. “Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, ‘Black this and black that and you shouldn’t be a Stormtrooper.’ Nobody else had that experience.”
Tran, the first woman of color to have a leading role in a “Star Wars” film, talked about the harassment she received in a 2018 op-ed for The New York Times and opened up to “The Hollywood Reporter” earlier this year about going to therapy and leaving social media in the aftermath of the film.
“This is what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world,” she wrote in The Times in 2018. “This is what it is to be a woman in a society that has taught its daughters that we are worthy of love only if we are deemed attractive by its sons. This is the world I grew up in, but not the world I want to leave behind.”
Ahmed Best, the actor who portrayed Jar Jar Binks in the “Star Wars” prequel films, a character largely maligned by fans, openly discussed his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts in recent years.
“I see you my sister,” Best wrote to Ingram in a Twitter post Tuesday. “You are a brilliant artist an inspiration and a queen of the highest order. I will stand with you and for you in this fight. You are the brightest star in the galaxy. Sending all the love I have.”
Ingram received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2020 for her appearance in celebrated Netflix drama “The Queen’s Gambit.”
