Ewan McGregor is standing up for his Obi-Wan Kenobi co-star Moses Ingram, who received racist private messages after portraying Inquisitor Reva in the Disney+ series.
Since 2019, excitement has mounted for McGregor’s return to the iconic Star Wars character and for the prospect of Kenobi getting his own series. And while the inclusion of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader may not have been such a popular decision a decade ago, the reputation of the Star Wars prequels has since been rehabilitated enough for this to be a cause for celebration as well.
Although this excitement has rocketed the series into an unprecedented hit for Disney’s streaming service and satisfied a age-old question about the original trilogy , it seems that not everyone is happy with the way the series has turned out.
Unfortunately, Ingram’s experiences have shown that some of this backlash has gone beyond standard criticism and into bullying based on her race.
In a recent Instagram story, Moses Ingram shared some examples of what she described as hundreds of racist messages on her social media accounts, including some that used racial slurs.
This public statement was done in the form of an Instagram Story and thus is not permanently visible on her account, but Twitter users were able to preserve some of the examples she posted .
According to CNN, Ingram responded to these messages by saying , “The thing that bothers me is … this feeling of like, I just gotta shut up and take it, I just have to grin and bear it. And I’m not built like that.”
She also thanked those who supported her when similarly hostile comments cropped up throughout social media platforms.
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And unfortunately, Ingram isn’t the first Star Wars actor who’s faced social media bullying with similar motivations.
In a New York Times op-ed from 2017, Kelly Marie Tran described being driven off social media by racist and misogynistic bullying that once again went much farther than simple expressions of distaste for her unpopular character Rose.
In a separate article, CNN also chronicled the hate that John Boyega received just from a single wordless appearance in a stormtrooper uniform after the first trailer for The Force Awakens was released in 2014.
And while Boyega and Mark Hamill spoke out in support of Tran at the time, the official Star Wars Twitter account did the same for Ingram on May 31.
As their statement read , “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.”
Later that day, McGregor would record his own message of support for Ingram and condemnation for those responsible for what she’s had to deal with.
As we can see here, he began by expressing his appreciation for the fact that Star Wars fans made the show’s first episode the most watched Disney+ original series premiere in the history of the platform.
However, he then shared that he felt heartbroken and sickened when he saw some of the DMs Ingram received.
After describing these messages as “horrendous” and racist, McGregor gave credit to Ingram’s skills as an actor and said, “If you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan in my mind.”
In a more recent Instagram Story, Ingram thanked her well-wishers for their outpouring of support, which she described as louder than the hate she received.
h/t: CNN
