Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi broke records on its debut, becoming the streaming service’s most-watched original series of all time. Ewan McGregor returned to the franchise that made him a super star, exploring the ongoing adventures of crazy old Ben Kenobi under the thumb of Imperial rule. And while fans are digging the series, one very ugly segment of the Star Wars fandom went after McGregor’s co-star Moses Ingram.
Queen’s Gambit alum Ingram was cast as a Jedi hunter named Reva who terrorizes the good people of Tatooine and hunts down our hero. Ingram said she’d been warned about a possible racist backlash to her casting but, in a very sad Instagram video, posted screenshots of some of the messages she’s received that contain racial slurs and other hateful language.
“There are hundreds of those. Hundreds,” Ingram said, after sharing a few deeply offensive screenshots. “And I also see those of you out there who put on a cape for me and that really does mean the world to me because, you know, there’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate. And so I question my purposes, even being here in front of you saying that this is happening.”
On Tuesday, McGregor addressed fans and condemned the messages his co-star had received. “If you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan in my mind,” McGregor said in a video posted to Twitter. “There’s no place for racism in this world. I totally stand with Moses.”
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. pic.twitter.com/rJSDmj663K
— Star Wars (@starwars) June 1, 2022
“It seems that some of the fan base has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist DMs,” he continued. “I heard some of them this morning and it just broke my heart. Moses is a brilliant actor. She’s a brilliant woman. And she’s absolutely amazing in this series …It just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this has been happening. I just want to say as the leading actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses.”
It’s not the first instance of racism that this franchise has weathered. Kelly Marie Tran left social media altogether following the racist hatred she received online after The Last Jedi premiered, and John Boyega said he’d discussed ways for Lucasfilm to protect and prioritize actors of color after his experience.
“I don’t really know. I don’t really know,” said Ingram. “But I think the thing that bothers me is sort of this feeling that I’ve had inside of myself. This feeling that no one has told me, but I just got to shut up and take it. I just got to bury it. And I’m not built like that. 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.”
