Obi-Wan Kenobi actress Moses Ingram has revealed that she has received “hundreds” of racist messages since her debut. With her co-star Ewan McGregor issuing a strong statement condemning abusive fans, saying, “If you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan.
Ingram plays Reva Sevander, Darth Vader’s Third Sister, who is tasked by Darth Vader to track down McGregor’s Kenobi in the upcoming Disney+ series. She shared a few examples of racist hatred received at her on social media since the show began on Tuesday on Instagram.
“There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate. I question my purpose in even being here in front of you saying that this is happening. I don’t really know,” Ingram said in a Instagram post. “The thing that bothers me is this feeling inside of myself, that 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. 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.”
McGregor’s video response was released on the official Star Wars Twitter account on Tuesday night, in which he vehemently condemned the harassment. “It seems that some of the fan base has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist (messages). I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart,” McGregor said.
He continued by saying, “Moses is a brilliant actor. She is a brilliant woman. And she is 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 that this had been happening.” He added, “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.”
A message shared on the Star Wars account reads, “There are more than 20m sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist. 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.”
Following their casting in the sequel trilogy, Star Wars actresses Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega faced racist backlash from fans. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been a critical and popular success, becoming Disney+’s most-watched original series launch. Apart from McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hayden Christensen reprises his role as Darth Vader, the legendary Star Wars villain, for the first time in nearly two decades.The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi launched on May 27 and additional episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays.