Source: Disney+ / Obi-Wan Kenobi
The new Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi has attracted a lot of fans, but co-star Moses Ingram has been the target of racist comments against her online. Her co-star, Ewan McGregor has stepped up along with Disney to condemn those making the online remarks.
Ingram, who plays the Jedi hunter Inquisitor Reva on the new Disney+ series shared the “hundreds” of racially abusive messages she received after the show made its debut last Friday (May 27th). In a video she posted to her Instagram account afterward, the 29-year-old actress plainly spoke about the situation and thanked those people who spoke out against her being treated that way. “So I really just wanted to come on, I think and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places I’m not going to put myself. And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird.”
Disney, through its Star Wars-branded social media accounts, firmly condemned the online abuse Ingram has received. “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,” read a Tuesday morning (May 31st) message posted to Twitter.
It followed that up with a personal video from Ewan McGregor himself, who plays the titular Jedi in the series. McGregor begins by thanking fans who tuned in to the series premiere before condemning the abuse that Ingram received. “She brings so much to the series, she brings so much to the franchise. And it just sickened me to my stomach that this had been happening,” he said. He concluded by firmly stating: “I just want to say, as the lead 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.”
This situation is not the first time that racist fans have attacked actors in the Star Wars franchise. Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in The Last Jedi, was forced to delete her social media accounts after her appearance, and only received scant on-screen time in The Rise of Skywalker. John Boyega, who played Black stormtrooper-turned Resistance hero Finn in the latest trilogy of the Star Wars saga, encountered the same barrage of racist attacks.
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