Sometimes we have something meaningful we want to say but when we’re put on the spot, it all comes out in a jumble of incoherent and occasionally unintentionally offensive phrases. For Star Wars star John Boyega, he went through this exact thing after he was asked about his co-star Kelly Marie Tran.
During a chat with Variety, Boyega was asked about the awful side of the Star Wars fandom and how this reared its ugly head when trolls went after Kelly Marie Tran after The Last Jedi was released, and he may have accidentally implied she was “not mentally strong” and “weak” for deleting her social media.
“Being in this position, you just understand the masses, how the masses think, you know. Through social media, we get to engage, we get to have fun. But at the same time, for those who are not mentally strong, you are weak to believe in every single thing that you read.
“That’s, you know, it is what it is. I don’t know, for me anyway, when I see that [backlash], I’m like, well, that’s actually not true. But no, it is actually not true. So it’s kind of like [shrugs] it is what it is. But to engage, to connect with the fans who otherwise wouldn’t get a day to day experience, especially during things like the press tour, and behind the scenes stuff, is always good.“
Now this obviously didn’t go down too well the certain parts of the Star Wars fandom (though the unbearable trolls would’ve frothed over this soundbite) as it sounded like he was dissing his co-star.
However, Boyega quickly took to Twitter to apologise and clarify what he meant by his remarks about his co-star, writing how he badly worded his comments and that he was trying to speak from his “own perspective” while working on Star Wars.
Not going to lie, his remarks about trolling and Kelly Marie Tran were a bit baffling to read but kudos to John Boyega for quickly owning up to it with a solid apology (those are rare these days) and explaining what he meant by it.
As for how he feels about the online harassment he and his Star Wars co-stars get from irritating fans, Boyega pointed to an older tweet where he shared his thoughts on the matter and stated that his thoughts “remain the same” after all this time.
So in short, John Boyega said something dumb when asked about Kelly Marie Tran and promptly shared a great apology for it. It’s pretty sad that this whole thing only came about because of a small yet loud sub-section of puffy-chested bros who hide under the veil of being a “Star Wars fans.”
At least Boyega and his co-stars won’t have to deal with this for too much longer as we’re in the homestretch for The Rise of Skywalker‘s release and soon we’ll be done… until the next Star Wars movie arrives.
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