The official “Star Wars” Twitter account celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day much like other brands — tweeting a quote from the famous civil rights leader. But “Star Wars” fans called out the franchise for doing so.
What happened?
The official “Star Wars” Twitter account tweeted the following quote from King on Monday:
- “‘There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.’ — Martin Luther King, Jr.”
- The account added a reply that read, “Today, we honor Dr. King and celebrate his legacy. The Lucasfilm family is committed to the fight for justice and equality in every corner of the galaxy. Each of us keeps the dream alive!”
Backlash
Several fans responded to the tweet, calling out “Star Wars” for how it has handled diversity and minority characters in the past. Specifically, there were references to John Boyega’s character Finn and Kelly Marie Tran’s character Rose Tico.
- “You reduced John Boyega’s character in TROS. You made Kelly Marie Tran’s character a side-character out of the fear of reactions from TLJ. Even when hated, George Lucas would never minimize a role of a character. Please reflect your words and your actions,” one fan wrote.
- “That’s interesting, (because) your treatment of John Boyega says otherwise,” one fan suggested.
- “Sick of companies saying stuff like this but when it comes to it, they don’t care. Especially in recent years with how John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Kelly Marie Tran’s characters were treated, not to mention that they still haven’t addressed the Gina Carano situation ...,” another wrote.
- “Too bad you totally forgot about James Earl Jones’ birthday recently ...,” another said.
- “Disney & Star Wars’ treatment of John Boyega says otherwise, it’s easy for a company to make a statement like this on MLK day and actually take no real action,” yet another fan said.
Boyega’s comments
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Boyega said in an interview with GQ back in September 2020 that Disney failed to find a good storyline for him and other diverse cast members.
- “You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. (But) 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. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
- “Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” he says. “You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know. ... So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience ...’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything.”