With a new wave of Star Wars TV shows and content comes a new wave of fan backlash that is only amplified by social media. Earlier this year, the official Star Wars social accounts had to release a statement after Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram received racist threats. This isn’t the first time that stars have received hate for working in the Star Wars universe, and Simon Pegg is sick of it.
Pegg, who has worked on various Star Wars projects, including The Force Awakens, stopped by SiriusXM’s Jim And Sam podcast where he discussed his stance on the Star Wars online fan culture, which has gotten increasingly vicious as of late.
“To be honest — and as someone who kind of was, you know, kicked off about the prequels when they came out, the Star Wars fanbase really seems to be the most kind of toxic at the moment,” Pegg said. “I’m probably being very controversial to say that.” Pegg famously wasn’t a fan of Jar Jar Binks, hating on the character originally, then backtracking on his statements several years later after learning how much the backlash hurt Ahmed Best, the actor behind the much-loathed character.
“I’ve apologized for the things I said about, you know, Jar Jar Binks,” Pegg added. “Because, of course, there was a f*cking actor involved. He was getting a lot of flack and … it was a human being. And because it got a lot of hate, he suffered, you know, and I feel terrible about being part of that.”
Pegg went on to praise the Star Trek fandom for their much kinder social media presence. “I find the Star Trek fans have always been very, very inclusive, you know, Star Trek’s about diversity. It has been since 1966, it always was,” Pegg, who starred in J.J. Abram’s Star Trek reboot, added.
“There’s no sort of like, ‘Oh, you’re suddenly being woke,’” Pegg explained, adding that the hit sci-fi show has been committed to diversity since it began. “Star Trek was woke from the beginning, you know? This is massively progressive.” Pegg added.
Even though the diversity in Star Wars is relatively new, it’s still just as important, which is why fan reactions have been so disheartening to Pegg. “[With] Star Wars suddenly there’s a little bit more diversity and everyone’s kicking off about it. And it’s, it’s really sad.” Hopefully, this will inspire some of the Star Wars bullies to pick on another galaxy.