In a galaxy not so far, far away, Moses Ingram is boldly speaking out in the wake of hateful and racist comments made at her expense since the premiere of Obi-Wan Kenobi. In a series of videos posted to her Instagram story, the actress — who plays Reva, aka Third Sister — defended herself against Star Wars fans who’ve called her a “diversity hire,” “loser,” and other hate-filled snubs.
“Long story short, there are hundreds of those,” Ingram said, referring to the racist comments. “Hundreds. 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 there’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate, and so I question what my purpose is in even being here in front of you saying that this is happening. I don’t really know.”
The Queen’s Gambit star went on: “But I think the thing that bothers me is this feeling that I’ve sort of had inside myself — which no one has told me — but this feeling of, ‘I just have to shut up and take it. I just have to bear it.’ And I’m not built like that. So I really just wanted to come on and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and in the places that I’m not going to put myself. And to the rest of y’all: Y’all weird.”
Unfortunately, even executives at George Lucas’ Lucasfilm warned Ingram that this was a likely outcome. Just a few years ago, the studio saw similarly abhorrent backlash aimed at John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran, non-white actors who appeared in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
“It was something that Lucasfilm actually got in front of and said, ‘This is a thing that, unfortunately, likely will happen,’” Ingram said in a recent interview with The Independent. “‘But we are here to help you; you can let us know when it happens.’”
Thankfully, Ingram also has plenty of sympathetic Star Wars colleagues and fans willing to defend her against the Internet’s dark side. In particular, Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor, posted a video message via Star Wars’ social media:
“It seems that some of the fan base has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist DMs. I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart. 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. 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.”
You can watch the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ now. The limited series also stars Hayden Christensen, Joel Edgerton, and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.
Moses Ingram posted an instagram story about the racist comments she’s been receiving from Star Wars fans pic.twitter.com/NUe7aB0UQo
— sleemo (@sleemo) May 31, 2022
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. pic.twitter.com/rJSDmj663K
— Star Wars (@starwars) June 1, 2022