The 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' star revealed she's been receiving racist messages on social media as the first two episodes premiere on Disney+.
Moses Ingram is speaking out against the racist messages she's received since her Obi-Wan Kenobi debut, and the Star Wars franchise is backing her up.
On Tuesday, the official Star Wars Twitter and Instagram accounts spoke out in support of Ingram, who stars as the ambitious new Inquisitor Reva Sevander on the long-awaited Disney+ series.
"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," the statement said. "There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don't choose to be a racist."
Earlier that morning, Ingram took to her Instagram Story to share the hateful messages she's been receiving since joining the franchise. The Yale Drama School alum shared screenshots of the messages, which included: "You suck loser. You're a diversity hire and you won't be loved or remembered for this acting role" and "You're [sic] days are numbered."
Another message called Ingram a racial slur, telling her she isn't "the first [n-word] in starwarss."
In a video to her followers, Ingram revealed that these messages were a small example of the negativity she's received online.
"Long story short, there are hundreds of those, hundreds. And I also see those of you out there who put on a cape for me and that really does mean the world to me, because there's nothing anybody can do about this," Ingram said.
"Thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments, in the places that I'm not gonna put myself." she added, "To the rest of y'all, y'all weird."
Ingram joins a long list of Black actors who have faced racist vitriol after joining a franchise; Star Wars final trilogy star John Boyega faced a similar reception when his face was revealed within the first moments of 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer.
In a candid September 2020 interview with British GQ, the actor explained how his experience in the Skywalker Saga soured following his initial breakthrough casting.
"I’m the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race. Let’s just leave it like that," he explained. "It makes you angry with a process like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you. Because you realize, 'I got given this opportunity but I’m in an industry that wasn’t even ready for me.'"
"Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were in it]. Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, 'Black this and Black that and you shouldn’t be a Stormtrooper.' Nobody else had that experience. But yet people are surprised that I’m this way. That’s my frustration."
Boyega's costar Kelly Marie Tran faced massive racist backlash after her character, Rose Tico, was introduced in The Last Jedi, and similarly to Boyega's Finn, was also ultimately sidelined -- Rose appeared briefly, and mostly inconsequentially, for just a few scenes at the end of Rise of Skywalker. Tran, tired of dealing with negative comments, wiped her Instagram account.
Ingram stars alongside franchise veterans Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen as the titular Jedi Master and his former apprentice-turned-Darth Vader, respectively, in Obi-Wan Kenobi. She joins newcomers to the franchise Rupert Friend, Sung Kang and Joel Edgerton.
"She's serious and she don’t take no mess," Ingram told ET's Will Marfuggi about her character created specifically for the live-action series. And according to executive producer Joby Harold, the "third sister," who will appear alongside Rupert Friend’s Grand Inquisitor, is expected to join the legacy of Star War villains -- and become a foe that’s remembered for a long time.
When asked about joining this particular universe, Ingram shared something Christensen, who "welcomed me as a peer," told her on set. "Hayden said to me the other day, he’s like, 'Moses, once you’re in it, you’re in it for the rest of your life,'" she recalled, adding that she’s "happy to be here with them."
Prior to joining the Star Wars series, Ingram first garnered attention for her supporting role as Jolene on the surprise Netflix hit, The Queen’s Gambit, which earned her her first Emmy nomination. She then followed that up with her portrayal of Lady Macduff opposite Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in The Tragedy of Macbeth. She followed the latter with the 2022 film Ambulance.
Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered with the first two episodes Friday, May 27 on Disney+. The remaining series will stream weekly on Wednesdays, until the finale on Wednesday, June 22.
RELATED CONTENT
