Ewan McGregor blasts attacks on ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ co-star. ‘You’re no Star Wars fan’
Ewan McGregor, who plays the title character in the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” has blasted a series of racist comments against his co-star, Moses Ingram.
Ingram plays Reva in the “Star Wars” series, which debuted late last month. She said in an Instagram story she has been subjected to spiteful comments on social media since the series debuted, with some including racist slurs.
Many people in the “Star Wars” community have come to her defense, including McGregor, who referred to messages Ingram has received as “horrendous (and) racist.”
“I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart,” he said in a video shared on Twitter. “Moses is a brilliant actor, she’s a brilliant woman, and she’s absolutely amazing in this series. She brings so much to the series, she brings so much to the franchise, and it just sickened me to my stomach to hear that this had been happening.”
McGregor went on to say that he and the rest of the cast “stand with Moses.”
“We love Moses. And if you send her bullying messages, you’re no ‘Star Wars’ fan in my mind,” the actor said. “There’s no place for racism in this world.”
Ingram’s acting credits are limited, but she has made the most of them. She appeared in four episodes of the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” as Jolene, a fellow orphan to main character Beth Harmon. Ingram also portrayed Lady Macduff in “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which won three Academy Awards.
Kumail Nanjiani, who is also new to the “Star Wars” universe, said “Moses Ingram is a phenomenal person and actor and I am excited about the decades of amazing work she has ahead of her.”
The official “Star Wars” Twitter account has had multiple posts denouncing the racism against Ingram. In one, it said “we resist” any comments that make her feel unwelcome.
“There are more than 20 million sentient species in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist,” the official account said.
Ingram first detailed the comments she has received in an Instagram story, saying, “There’s nothing anybody can do about this.”
“The thing that bothers me is this feeling inside of myself, which no one has told me, but this feeling that I have to shut up and take it, that I have to grin and bear it,” Ingram said. “And I’m not built like that. So, I wanted to come on and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places that I’m not going to put myself. And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird.”
It’s not the first time fans have spewed racist comments against persons of color in the “Star Wars” universe. Kelly Marie Tran, an Asian American who appeared in recent “Star Wars” films, was forced to delete posts on her social media after it was inundated with racist and sexist comments.
John Boyega, a Black actor and one of the main characters in the sequel trilogy, received a litany of backlash over his casting in “The Force Awakens” because of his race.
“Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because (they were in it),” Boyega told Rolling Stone in 2020. “Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, ‘Black this and Black that and you shouldn’t be a Stormtrooper.’ Nobody else had that experience. But yet people are surprised that I’m this way. That’s my frustration.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Ewan McGregor blasts attacks on ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ co-star. ‘You’re no Star Wars fan’."