We Need To Talk About The Unnecessary Hate Certain ‘Star Wars’ Actors Receive
Image Source: Fiction Tiers Wiki
I think it's finally time to discuss the elephant in the room when it comes to Star Wars, and that is the unfair hate certain actors get in this fandom. Don’t get me wrong, you’re allowed to criticize content all you want, but once you start using hateful comments towards someone, all of your concerns are automatically invalid. This gross “trend” has been happening for far too long, and it’s time we talk about it.
It’s okay not to like things, there are a lot of things I don’t like, what is not okay is harassing the actors about the things you don’t like. Certain Star Wars fans have a bad habit of doing this. It goes as far back as the prequels. Ahmed Best, Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, and Jake Lloyd, yes a literal child, all got hate for their role in the prequel trilogy. Some of them took a step back from the franchise for a while, but for Jake Lloyd, it wasn’t so easy. He struggled with mental health issues all of his life because of what happened to him. Luckily, the generation that grew up with the prequels is older now and has been showing more appreciation for them. We have been privileged enough to see a return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, and he is finally getting the praise he deserves. Ahmed Best even came back and was the Jedi who rescued Grogu from the Jedi Temple. Talk about coming back better than ever.
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Image Source: Star Wars
This extremely unnecessary hate did not stop with the prequels. It started up again with some of the recent Disney+ shows, and the sequel movies. Again, certain “fans” have harassed Moses Ingram for her role as Reva in Kenobi, Daisy Ridley for her role as Rey, and Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico. John Boyega was also harassed for his role as Finn. Were the sequels perfect? Absolutely not, no piece of Star Wars content is, but that doesn’t mean the actors deserve hate for their parts. All of these actors, in my opinion, were great in their roles, and what they had to work with. When the hate got too much, some of them even left social media.
Most recently, the cast of The Acolyte has been the unfortunate recipient of this hate. The recent hate tends to have a pattern. It primarily targets women, and people of color. It also tends to be from the same group of Star Wars “fans”. Listen, it’s okay if you don’t like new Star Wars content. You don’t have to be a fan and like everything, that is totally valid. What is not okay however is leaving hate messages to the actors who play these roles. Even if it's the worst show you’ve ever seen, actors do not deserve the hate. Go outside and touch grass.
Image Source: The Hollywood Repor
Unfortunately, Lucasfilm has not done anything to help combat this hate. When Kenobi came out, Moses Ingram got a ton of hate for her role as Reva. Ewan McGregor took it upon himself to call out these racists, and so-called “fans’ who were leaving her hate. Amandla Stenberg recently revealed that Lucasfilm told her that she should expect some hate. This is not acceptable, and they need to do more to protect their actors.
In this day and age, when social media is such a presence in the world, the hate and vitriol you see online is even worse. It’s not always easy to avoid either. There are some “fans” who use their platform to spread this hate, and some make a living off of making YouTube videos against these actors. Again, they are allowed to not like stuff, but to just rag on the actors, primarily women and people of color is disgusting, and against everything Star Wars stands for. Congratulations, you're literally the Empire, and that's not a good thing!
Image Source: Collider
At the end of the day, Star Wars is for everyone. Inclusivity is a good thing. Not every story has to relate or be for, you personally, and that is okay. It's a beautiful thing to see different stories than what we're used to. The universe is vast, which means there's a huge diversity of people. This hate unfortunately does not just happen to the actors and has bled into the fandom as well, but that’s a whole other article. So next time you go and complain about a Star Wars actor or project, ask yourself if that's really the hill you want to die on. If you don't like it, don't watch it, it's that simple.
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