Star Wars Calls John Boyega a ‘Hero’ For Protesting Racism
Protests against police brutality and racism continue around the country and the entire world this week following the death of George Floyd. One of the more famous faces at one such protest in London was John Boyega, one of the leads of the recent Star Wars trilogy. Addressing the crowd, Boyega said “Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting.”
Boyega also said “Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but f— that.”
But it doesn’t look like Lucasfilm, at least, takes issue with Boyega’s speech. Instead, they reshared it to their 4.4 million followers on Twitter with their own message of support. Calling Boyega “our hero” and repeating his message that “Black lives have always mattered” they added “The evil that is racism must stop. We will commit to being part of the change that is long overdue in the world.”
In the months and years ahead we’ll have to see whether Lucasfilms’ actions — and particularly their hiring practices — match these important words. (The company has long been criticized for the lack of diversity among its directors, although they did bring in several people of color to direct episodes in the first season of The Mandalorian.) And we’ll obviously continue supporting Boyega, an incredibly talented actor as well as a welcome and important voice for change right now.
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