Moses Ingram, who portrays the villainous Sith Inquisitor Reva Sevander on Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, revealed in her Instagram stories that she has received a flood of racist messages since the series debuted last week.
“There’s nothing anybody can do about this,” Ingram said after revealing the messages, some of which contained the N-word. “There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate. I question my purpose in even being here in front of you, saying that this is happening. I don’t really know.”
She continued, “The thing that bothers me is this feeling inside of myself, that no one has told me, but this feeling that I have to shut up and take it, that I have to grin and bear it. And I’m not built like that. So, I wanted to come on and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places that I’m not going to put myself. And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird.”
On Tuesday, the official Star Wars account on Twitter showed support in a post that said, “We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold. If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist.”
We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold. If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist. pic.twitter.com/lZW0yvseBk
— Star Wars (@starwars) May 31, 2022
The post pointed out that “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy,” before telling haters, “don’t choose to be a racist.”
Message from Star Trek: Anson Mount
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount posted a photo of Ingram on his Instagram account and a message of support.
“This is Moses Ingram. She is a singular talent and a recent addition to the @starwars universe. She has also been targeted by racists pretending to be fans because her mere existence threatens a skewed, dystopian fantasy that selectively omits the likes of @therealbillydee and others. We, the Trek Family, have her back.”
Message from Star Wars: Ewan McGregor
Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor posted a video on Twitter where he speaks about the messages sent to Ingram, “I heard some of them this morning and it just broke my heart,” he said.
He continued, “Moses is a brilliant actor, she’s a brilliant woman and she’s absolutely amazing in this series…I just want to say as the leading actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses. We love Moses, and if you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan in my mind. There’s no place for racism in this world.”
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. pic.twitter.com/rJSDmj663K
— Star Wars (@starwars) June 1, 2022
The Star Wars trolls are showing their asses again with their hate. Ingram is wrong about one thing; there is something that can be done. We can’t stop the hate but we can report these hateful messages when we see them. Social media platforms should be held to account to ensure troll accounts are removed and prosecuted in the most egregious cases.
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