“Star Wars” star John Boyega called out fans he says were upset at his casting in the blockbuster franchise, claiming in a new documentary about Black actors that some audiences aren’t accepting of them in leading roles.
“Let me tell you, Star Wars always had the vibe of being in the most Whitest, elite space,” Boyega says in the Apple TV+ documentary, “Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
Boyega, who played Finn for three films in the series, said that fans weren’t used to a Black main character because Star Wars has always been “so White.”
“It’s a franchise that’s so White that a Black person existing in [it] was something,” he said.
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The actor pointed to how the popular franchise had a handful of Black actors in prominent roles up to his casting, yet some fans would use these examples to dismiss his argument about a lack of diversity in the franchise.
“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!'” he continued. “It’s like telling me how many cookie chips are in the cookie dough. It’s like, ‘They just scattered that in there, bro!”
Boyega further said some fans would only accept Black actors playing the buddy role in films.
“They’re OK 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!'” Boyega said about online critics.
Boyega previously opened up about the online backlash he received after his casting as the series’ first Black Stormtrooper, telling British GQ Magazine in 2020 that he was the “only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race.”
In the same interview, he expressed frustration at Disney for diminishing his character’s role in the last film of the trilogy, 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”
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He said, “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.”
The new Star Wars trilogy, beginning with “The Force Awakens” in 2015 and followed by 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker,” grossed billions of dollars but divided the series’ rabid fan base.
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