There’s no fandom quite like a toxic fandom, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. is stoking the flames of racism that had already started simmering since the premiere of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+.
As witnessed with John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran before her, Moses Ingram quickly became the subject of racist attacks from so-called fans of the “Star Wars” universe. She shared some that had been sent to her DMs publicly.
The official “Star Wars” social media platform, as well as co-stars Ewan McGregor and Kumail Nanjiani came to her defense. Now, another co-star that fans haven’t even met yet is chiming in.
In each episode, there have been some surprising guest stars making appearances. The two-part premiere featured Nanjiani and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, while the second episode featured Zach Braff as a mole-faced alien.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. has yet to make his appearance on-screen, but he’s already anticipating and ready for any potential backlash to his role. In fact, he seems hopeful that his character will trigger all the show’s toxic fans.
Sharing an article about the comments and even death threats Ingram has gotten since debuting as Inquisitor Reva on the new series, Jackson tweeted that it “probably kills them that James Earl Jones is Darth Vader.” Jones and Hayden Christensen reprised their roles as the Sith Lord for the show’s third episode.
Jackson went on to add, “They are gonna loooooove finding out what my character does.”
There has been absolutely no hints of any kind about Jackson’s character or role in the series, or even when he will appear. It’ll be interesting to see if those same fans are willing to lob racist vitriol his way, as well, once he does make his debut.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jackson found himself under minor attack on his own page, to which he happily went to war with any haters pushing back against his support of Ingram.
“It just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this had been happening,” McGregor said in response to the hate Ingram had been receiving. “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.”
the official Star Wars account also came out in defense of Ingram, writing, “If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist … There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.”
Ingram revealed on Monday that she’s received “hundreds” of racist and hateful messages since the premiere — and proceeded to show some of them in her Instagram Story.
“[Your] days are numbered,” read one. “You suck loser. You’re a diversity hire and you won’t be loved or remembered for this acting role,” read another, while a third said, “You have now been converted into the Saint George of Floydium of Star Wars, are you happy?”
“Long story short, there are hundreds of those. Hundreds,” Ingram said in a video shared after the DMs. “I also see those of you out there who put on a cape for me and that really does mean the world for me because there’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate.”
Saying she questioned why she was even sharing her experience, Ingram added that what “bothers” her is feeling like she has to “just gotta shut up and take it” or “grin and bear it.” She also said this wasn’t an expectation put on her by anyone, adding, “I’m not built like that.”
“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 I’m not going to put myself and to the rest of y’all, y’all weird,” she concluded.
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