Discrimination is discrimination. Hate speech is hate speech. So, in a way, it’s a swipe at all of us when anyone is targeted by bigoted bullying.
Last week, 29-year-old Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico, deleted her all of her Instagram posts after months of hateful, racist and sexist bullying from Star Wars “fans.” Rose is the first non-white female lead in the history of the franchise.
Taking credit for the bulk of the attacks against the actress is a Facebook group called “Down With Disney’s Treatment of Franchises and Its Fanboys,” which has since made itself private [seriously, why hasn’t Facebook removed the hate group entirely?]. Check it out, and try not to gag:
Here’s more from the post you can’t see in the screen cap:
“Now go out there and fight for Legends restoration, go out there and reverse this forced diversity, go out there and show them what real Star Wars fans look like. Bring back the Straight White Male Hero that isn’t manufactured by a corrupt corporation like Disney.”
This group is also behind a campaign in February to give Black Panther a “Rotten” audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the positive side of things, since Tran deleted her photos last week, she’s gained over 50,000 new Insta followers. Celebrities have also shown an outpouring of support:
The best was from Stephen Colbert, who premiered a whole new Star Wars trailer dedicated to “broken hateful dweebs.” When addressing Tran’s racist cyber attackers, Colbert quipped, “It’s good to see Roseanne staying busy!” Zing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVpG1iC737c
Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill took a firm stand against the online bullies as well, posting a pic of him embracing Tran, with caption “What’s not to like? #GetALifeNerds”
Last Jedi helmer Rian Johnson dropped the word “manbabies.”
And on Tuesday, Tran’s co-star John Boyega posted this to Instagram.
This whole thing is just rotten to the core. These aren’t Star Wars fans; this is cyber-terrorism of the most cowardly kind. Star Wars is supposed to be all about bringing balance. Clearly, Star Wars has a fan problem.