Star Wars defends Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram against racist attacks

Obi-Wan Kenobi
(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

The Star Wars franchise is calling out racist hate against another one of his leads.

The official Star Wars Twitter account on Tuesday expressed support for Moses Ingram, who plays Jedi hunter Reva Sevander in the new Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. "If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist," the account said. "There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don't choose to be a racist."

On Instagram, Ingram shared a look at some of the racist hate she's received, including vile messages using the N-word and telling her she's a "diversity hire." She said she has received "hundreds" of similar ones.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"The thing that bothers me is this feeling that I've had inside of myself, which no one has told me, but this feeling of I've just got to shut up and take it," Ingram said. "I've just got to kind of grin and bear it. And I'm not built like that."

Multiple Star Wars actors have faced racist online attacks in recent years, including John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran. In 2018, Tran, who played Rose Tico, quit Instagram over the harassment. Ahead of Obi-Wan Kenobi's debut, Ingram told The Independent Lucasfilm warned her she would likely have a similar experience but promised to help her through it.

On Instagram, the actress thanked those fans who have supported her — and "to the rest of y'all," she said, "y'all weird."

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.