With the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi now streaming on Disney+, the official Star Wars Twitter account took a notably pro-active stance in welcoming Moses Ingram to the franchise. As Reva the Third Sister, Ingram has been earning praise for her compelling performance as the Jedi-hunting Inquisitor obsessed with tracking down Ewan McGregor‘s title character.
Unfortunately, a subset of the Star Wars fanbase has a recent history with hurling attacks at actors of color, forcing some of them to abandon their social media accounts altogether. John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran were subject to such brutal online criticisms while starring in the Sequel Trilogy. However, this time around, Star Wars is putting its full weight behind Ingram to, hopefully, keep fans in line.
“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,” the official Star Wars account tweeted. “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.”
There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.
— Star Wars (@starwars) May 31, 2022
Star Wars’ full-throated denouncement of racism amongst its fans arrives on the heels of Ingram revealing that Lucasfilm prepared her for online attacks. According to Ingram, Lucasfilm and Obi-Wan director Deborah Chow made sure “proper systems” were put in place to protect her, but Ingram is already with a tactic of her own. “I have no problem with the block button.”
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming on Disney+.
(Via Star Wars on Twitter)