Entertainment
After Endorsing Calling All White People Racist, Lucasfilm Prepped Actress Moses Ingram Against “Racist Backlash” To Her Obi-Wan Kenobi Character
Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, believes their Star Wars fanbase is racist and according to actress Moses Ingram, who plays Inquisitor Reva Sevander in the upcoming "Obi-Wan Kenobi" TV series on Disney+, warned her she would face racism for playing the character.
Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, believes their Star Wars fanbase is racist and according to actress Moses Ingram, who plays Inquisitor Reva Sevander in the upcoming “Obi-Wan Kenobi” TV series on Disney+, warned her she would face racism for playing the character.
Ingram’s revelation that Lucasfilm believes their Star Wars fanbase is racist comes a little over a year after the company endorsed supporting calling all white people racist.
If you recall back in January 2021, Bounding Into Comics reported that newly hired Star Wars: The High Republic had previously claimed that white people are racist.
In March 2020, Arielle tweeted “White people: f***ing stop it. Your racism won’t save you. Your ignorance is not an excuse.”
RELATED: Newly Announced Star Wars: The High Republic Host Krystina Arielle Calls All White People Racist
In May 2020 she wrote, “White conservatives please stop invoking racism like you give a s***. You don’t. You just want to be able to say ‘what about’ when someone calls out 45 and his blatant racism.”
In June 2020, she also wrote, “Just a reminder that White Women are just as complicit in the upholding and enforcing White Supremacy.”
RELATED: Star Wars And Lucasfilm Officially Support Calling All White People Racist
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The official Star Wars account came out in support of Arielle, writing, “Our Star Wars community is one of hope and inclusivity. We do not stand for bullying and racism. We support Krystina Arielle.”
Ingram, who is set to play the villainous Inquisitor working under Darth Vader, is slated to have a major role in the upcoming series with some arguing her impact will be even bigger than the title character of Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor.
To that effect, the character of Reva Sevander is described by the show’s creator Joby Harold as someone who will “contribute to the legacy of Star Wars villains in a really interesting way.”
Regardless of what her role is or how impactful it will be, Ingram revealed in an interview with The Independent that Lucasfilm trained her to deal with the “racist backlash” towards her character ahead of the show’s premiere.
“It was something that Lucasfilm actually got in front of, and said, ‘This is a thing that, unfortunately, likely will happen. But we are here to help you; you can let us know when it happens,’” Ingram said.
Ingram also noted that “Obi-Wan Kenobi” director Deborah Chow has been “putting the proper systems in place so I feel safe as we do the work” throughout production.
“Of course, there are always pockets of hate,” Ingram said. “But I have no problem with the block button.”
In the interview, the outlet cites the often repeated lies that John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran received racist fan harassment following their respective roles in the recent Disney’s Star Wars trilogy.
For years, the media blamed racist backlash for Kelly Marie Tran temporarily leaving social media despite the fact that the actress never claimed that the supposed online harassment was the reason she left social media in the first place.
Instead, they took comments she made in a letter to the New York Times about being a woman and a person of color and conflated that with the negative reaction fans had to the film The Last Jedi in order to discredit criticism of the movie.
RELATED: The Guardian Labels Star Wars Fans Disappointed By Disney Sequel As “‘Alt-Right’ Racist Trolls”
John Boyega defended Kelly publicly but was never a target of negative backlash himself, as a matter of fact, people defended Boyega when he spoke out against the Disney owned property who he accused of sidelining black characters in the film and doing things such as removing his character from Chinese promotions of the movie in order to please the market and earn more money.
Sensing that the fanbase Lucasfilm continues to profit off of, yet rushes to condemn whenever they reject or criticize the latest pet project from executive producer Kathleen Kennedy, the Disney-owned company is looking to get ahead of negative reaction to the series when it drops this coming Friday.
It’s also possible this could be all part of Lucasfilm’s tired marketing strategy, one they allegedly used to promote Star Wars: The High Republic.
Novelist and comic book creator Jon Del Arroz posited that calling Star Wars fans racist, as they did when fans were justifiably upset with Arielle’s comments, was actually part of their marketing strategy.
Del Arroz explained, “This is just a marketing gimmick for Disney at the end of the day because there is no talk about The High Republic that is positive. Nobody is interested in the comics. Nobody is interested in the books. Nobody is interested in the show discussing the comics and books.”
“And so they have to try to make some sort of cause about it in order to get people interested. It’s a tired tactic at this point,” he concluded.
Aside from claiming that Lucasfilm believes their own fans are racist, Ingram also explained how the Disney+ series will add some much-needed “diversity” to the world of Star Wars.
“‘Obi-Wan’ is going to bring the most diversity I think we’ve ever seen in the galaxy before,” Ingram said.
“To me, it’s long overdue. If you’ve got talking droids and aliens, but no people of color, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s 2022, you know. So we’re just at the beginning of that change. But I think to start that change is better than never having started it.”
Apparently, Star Wars is just now introducing diversity to their universe after 45 years. One could shudder to imagine what Star Wars would look like today if it wasn’t for Kathleen Kennedy’s leadership.
Those of you interested in what the upcoming Disney+ series has in store for the future of the franchise can look into possible leaks that shed some light on the ending of the show. Everyone else will have to wait until March 27th to find out what happens.
What do you make of Ingram’s comments?
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