Moses Ingram is the latest actor in the “Star Wars” franchise to face a barrage of racist abuse online.
In an Instagram video, the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” star revealed some of the direct messages she’s recently received, The Guardian reported.
“The thing that bothers me is this feeling inside of myself … 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.”
• If you don’t already have access to Disney+, you can sign up and watch “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+ ($7.99/month or $79.99/year).
Disney has expanded George Lucas’ groundbreaking movie franchise since buying Lucasfilm in 2012, and the diversity of the casts in the new movies and TV shows has prompted some anonymous racists to launch bullying attacks on “Star Wars” actors via social media. John Boyega, who appeared in 2015′s “The Force Awakens,” and Kelly Marie Tran of 2017′s “The Last Jedi” also received racist abuse online.
The just-launched “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series, wrote The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Tim Brown in a preview, takes place a decade after the events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” “where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced a crushing defeat: The defection of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who becomes evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.”
Ingram reportedly plays a character who Darth Vader sends in pursuit of Kenobi.
Ewan McGregor, who returns to the role of Kenobi after playing the iconic character in Lucas’ early 2000s prequel trilogy, said in a statement that the online abuse directed at Ingram “broke my heart.”
“I just want to say, as the lead actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses,” he added. “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 official “Star Wars Twitter account weighed in as well, tweeting:
“If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist,” the account tweeted. “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.”
— Douglas Perry
