The long-awaited trailer for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the latest film in the historic sci-fi/fantasy series, premiered during Monday Night Football yesterday and it featured the movie’s multicultural cast. It didn’t take long before racists insisted on having their word.
A loose social media campaign, using the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII, sprouted up as a reaction to what people perceive as some liberal brainwashing plot. The movie features black British actor John Boyega in one of the two new lead roles, and Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o and actor Oscar Issac (both of whom are people of color) are also featured in the star-studded cast.
All of this is an affront to many using the hashtag, who apparently forgot about Billy Dee Williams’ and Samuel L. Jackson’s performances in previous Star Wars movies and think that the presence of people of color and women in the new film is an affront to the original franchise. Here are a few tweets, mentioned in a piece from The Hollywood Reporter:
#BoycottStarWarsVII because it is anti-white propaganda promoting #whitegenocide.
— End Cultural Marxism (@genophilia) October 19, 2015
Jewish activist #JJAbrams openly admits that #StarWarsVII is anti-white agitprop. #BoycottStarWarsVII #ForceAwakens pic.twitter.com/T0J4JXZmhB
— End Cultural Marxism (@genophilia) October 19, 2015
SJWs complain about White artists "misappropriating" culture created by blacks but then celebrate a non-White Star Wars. #BoycottStarWarsVII
— Captain Confederacy (@2partyhoax) October 19, 2015
An account with the same name as the hashtag is retweeting many of the posts (you can see them here, but we don’t recommend doing so unless you want to feel all the rage).
Some users are trying to reclaim the hashtag and criticize the racist campaign:
My final thought on the #BoycottStarWarsVII trend, and then I am declaring it a troll-free day. Ta. pic.twitter.com/uKMX43xOyW
— Heather Archuletta (@Pillownaut) October 20, 2015
4ch: ha ha, we made up #BoycottStarWarsVII as a joke and you fell for it Us: so you’re not really racist? 4ch: oh no that part is super true
— Rebecca Watson (@rebeccawatson) October 20, 2015
Once again, Bigots prove they never do the research #BoycottStarWarsVII #ForceIsStrongerThanBigotry pic.twitter.com/v2tRGcE9QB
— TK-421 (@TrooperTK421) October 20, 2015
Wired reports that users on infamous image board 4Chan came up with the campaign to instigate controversy before it was taken over with more racist and discriminatory content.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will arrive in theaters on December 18.
(H/t The Hollywood Reporter, Wired)