Interviewed for the new documentary Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, John Boyega made sure that his thoughts on a vocal, narrow-minded element of the fandom were crystal clear as he called out negative reactions to the presense of people of colour in the galaxy far, far away.
“It’s a franchise that’s so white that a Black person existing in [it] was something.”
“You can always tell it’s something when some Star Wars fans try to say, ‘Well, we had Lando Calrissian and had Samuel L. Jackson!'” It’s like telling me how many cookie chips are in the cookie dough. It’s like, they just scattered that in there, bro!”
“They’re okay with us playing the best friend, but once we touch their heroes, once we lead, once we trailblaze, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s just a bit too much! They’re pandering!'”
