John Boyega Has Some Words About Racist 'Star Wars' Fans
Image Source: ComicBook.com
The documentary Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood tells the stories of black actors who have seen success on the big screen. Among them is John Boyega, star of the sequel trilogy of Star Wars. In his interview, he had quite a few things to say about those people who can’t accept diverse casting.
“Lemme tell ya,” Boyega started, “Star Wars always had the vibe of being in the most whitest, elite space. It’s a franchise that’s so white that a black person existing in [it] was something. You can always tell it’s something when some Star Wars fans try to say, ‘Well we had Lando Calrissian and had Samuel L. Jackson!’ It’s like telling me how many cookie chips are in the cookie dough. It’s like, they just scattered that in there, bro!”
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Image Source: Glendon Mellow
Boyega had more to say in regards to the fans not accepting diversity for leading roles, noting that it is never a problem if that diversity is in a side role. “They’re okay with us playing the best friend, but once we touch their heroes, once we lead, once we trailblaze, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s just a bit too much! They’re pandering!’” The type of fans Boyega talks about were just as critical of Kelly Marie Tran when she appeared in The Last Jedi. More recently, racist remarks found themselves heading Amandla Stenberg’s way, who appeared in the Disney+ series The Acolyte.
After the final film of the sequel trilogy released in 2019, Boyega was also critical of Disney about the handling of his character. Stating in an interview with British GQ, “What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good.” He also recognised that the same had happened with Tran, saying that while Disney knew what to do with characters such as Rey and Kylo Ren, they knew “f*ck all” when it came to Finn and Rose.
Image Source: The Playlist
Even though he may be critical of its fans and how Disney handled his character, Boyega does recognise that Star Wars gave him the biggest turning point of his career. “The Force Awakens to me was a fundamental moment. We waited months for that. When that big call came in, that’s that call that all those stars talk about that changed their life and stuff. It’s like, ‘That’s it? That’s the call!’ It’s such an attack on reality.”
And, as he revealed on Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, he was so excited about getting the call, he just had to tell someone. Even if he wasn’t meant to. “I got in a taxi and told the driver. That was the first person I told. My mom’s not here, my dad’s not here, we’re sharing in this moment, bro. ‘Bro, I just got Star Wars!’ He was like, ‘Oh, yeah, congratulations mate. Great, that’s 45 pounds, please.’ It was that kinda moment. But I had to share. I know the rules were like, ‘Don’t share.’ But come on, man, you just offered me the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The two-part documentary, Number One on the Call Sheet features interviews with both leading black men and women of Hollywood. Listen to their stories of career challenges and successes via Apple TV+.
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Source: EW
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