Ewan McGregor Speaks Out Against Racist Comments Made Towards Moses Ingram
Sadly, it seems there are certain things that online fandoms will always have to deal with. Harassment is no exception. Last year, we were given our first look at the cast of Obi-Wan Kenobi; a six-episode series starring Ewan McGregor as everyone's favorite Jedi. Along with McGregor was a slew of other big-name actors, including Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars, Bonnie Piesse as Beru Lars, and Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor. We also learned of the involvement of Moses Ingram, who would be playing a new villain who would eventually be revealed to be Reva aka the Third Sister.
After gaining worldwide recognition for her role in the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit, Moses Ingram would go on to prove her acting chops in a variety of roles, showing immense passion in each of her many performances. Her latest role in Obi-Wan Kenobi is that of Reva; a Jedi-hunting Inquisitor who appears to have a personal grudge against Kenobi in particular. Showing fierce tenacity and an unsettling dedication to her mission, Reva is willing to kill civilians and even endanger her fellow Imperials to find her target, much to the disapproval of her fellow Inquisitors. In a set of episodes full of strong performances, I found Ingram's to be especially compelling, as she clashed with her superiors and taunted Kenobi with a kind of malicious glee. Right out the gate, Reva is an engaging antagonist made even stronger by Ingram's intense anger and chilling confidence.
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Unfortunately, this didn't seem to deter the numerous self-proclaimed Star Wars fans who took to Ingram's Instagram to harass and even threaten her with blatantly racist DMs. For the sake of our readers as well as just basic decency, I will not be detailing the content of these messages in this article. However, I will say that they are utterly horrific and unacceptable, especially at this point in time. Over the last few years, we have seen Star Wars actors and writers of color be subjected to harassment and hate speech from the most toxic, bigoted parts of the online Star Wars fandom. Ahmed Best, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Naomi Ackie, Justina Ireland, and Krystina Arielle all had to deal with similar racist backlash over their roles in various Star Wars projects. One would think that by this point, the Star Wars fandom would be far better equipped to prevent this type of behavior. But it seems we still have a way to go.
Luckily though, we've already seen a good number of actors and celebrities speaking in support of Moses Ingram and condemning those harassing her. Just this past Monday, we saw the official Star Wars Twitter and Facebook accounts address the issue directly. Their post reads as follows: "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. There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don't choose to be a racist." In solidarity with the sentiment, the official Star Trek account also made a post in support of Ingram as well as Sonequa Martin-Green, star of Star Trek: Discovery who has faced similar harassment.
The following day, the Star Wars Twitter account also posted a short video from Ewan McGregor, during which he stated his support for Moses Ingram and called out the Star Wars fans harassing her. "Moses is a brilliant actor, she's a brilliant woman and she'd be absolutely amazing in this series. She brings so much to the series, she brings so much to the franchise and it just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this had been happening. I just wanna say as the leading actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses, 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." Spoken like a true Jedi. Now we just need the rest of the Star Wars fandom to follow him instead of the fools.
Source(s): YouTube