Star Wars fans to not “be a racist” after actress Moses Ingram, star of the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series, endured online backlash similar to what actress Kelly Marie Tran faced following The Last Jedi.
In an Instagram story shared on Monday, Moses Ingram, who plays Reva Sevander, shared several screenshots of DMs and comments she received from racist trolls calling her the N-word and a whole host of other unsavory insults.
“There’s nothing anybody can do about this,” Ingram said in a video. “There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate. I question my purpose in even being here in front of you saying that this is happening. I don’t really know.”
Ingram added that she rejects the idea that she should have to “shut up and take it.”
“The thing that bothers me is this feeling inside of myself, that no one has told me, but this feeling that I have to shut up and take it, that I have to grin and bear it,” she said. “And I’m not built like that. So, I 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 not going to put myself.”
“And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird,” she concluded.
The official Star Wars Instagram account immediately came to Ingram’s defense.
“There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist,” the statement said.
“We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold. If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist,” it added.
Even Obi-Wan star Ewan McGregor jumped into the fray when the Star Wars official Twitter account shared a video of the actor hailing Moses as a “brilliant woman” who brings “so much to the series.” Per his statement:
It seems that some of the fan base has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist [direct messages]. I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart.
Moses is a brilliant actor. She is a brilliant woman. And she is absolutely amazing in this series. She brings so much to the series, she brings so much to the franchise.
And it just sickened me to my stomach that this had been happening. I just want to say as the lead actor in the series, as the executive producer on the 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.
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. pic.twitter.com/rJSDmj663K
— Star Wars (@starwars) June 1, 2022
It’s certainly not the first race scandal to rock Disney in recent years.
Actor John Boyega was scrubbed from China’s The Force Awakens promotional campaign movie poster.
china’s star wars poster shrunk john boyega because he’s black, absolutely disgusting behaviour. pic.twitter.com/3vARSxtXLI
— bruschetta dortmund (@meridiansour) December 4, 2015
The abuse Ingram endured echoes that of actress Kelly Marie Tran following The Last Jedi wherein she obliterated her social media presence after being the target of racist, sexist abuse.
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