Star Wars Actor John Boyega Says Disney Sidelined Black Character
John Boyega, the British-Nigerian actor, has accused Walt Disney Co. of marginalizing diverse members of the franchise’s cast.
(Bloomberg) -- John Boyega, the British-Nigerian actor best known for playing the role of stormtrooper Finn in the Star Wars sequel films, has accused Walt Disney Co. of marginalizing diverse members of the franchise’s cast and of promoting his role as more significant than it was to the trilogy.
In a wide-ranging interview with GQ magazine, the actor said Disney, which owns the Star Wars franchise through its Lucasfilm subsidiary, “gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley,” referring to White colleagues who were ultimately granted more screen time and storylines of greater complexity.
Boyega also expressed frustration that the studio didn’t know how to develop his character or that of his co-star Kelly Marie Tran, an actress of Vietnamese descent who plays the role of Resistance mechanic Rose Tico.
“What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side,” Boyega said. “It’s not good.”
Boyega’s criticism puts the entertainment giant, which earned praise for producing the blockbuster film “Black Panther,” starring the late Black actor Chadwick Boseman, at odds with an emerging voice speaking out against injustice. In June, Boyega participated in a Black Lives Matter protest in London and gave a passionate speech which soon became a viral sensation.
A Disney representative in Europe didn’t immediately answer calls seeking comment.
In the wake of protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake, companies are seeking to position themselves as staunch advocates for racial equality, but are often falling short.
The comments leveled against Disney follow accusations across the business landscape of “woke-washing,” wherein initiatives to demonstrate a social conscience are criticized as hollow. Perhaps most famously, PepsiCo Inc. tried in 2017 to evoke Black Lives Matter by airing a three-minute ad that depicted Kendall Jenner, a White fashion model, handing a can of cola to a policeman at a protest as an ethnically diverse crowd of actors cheered her on.
Boyega appeared in 2015’s “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi” in 2017, and last year’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”
In his interview with GQ, the actor said his experience with the films -- during which he endured boycott and death threats because of his race -- had made him “much more militant.” He realized he’d been “given this opportunity but I’m in an industry that wasn’t even ready for me.”
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