The new Star Wars series, Obi Wan Kenobi, debuted on Disney+ Friday with the first two episodes. Much like the previous much-ballyhooed series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Kenobi opened to a ravenous audience. In fact, this was the highest viewership for any series opening in the history of Disney+.
Thank you to the best fans in the galaxy for making #ObiWanKenobi the most-watched @disneyplus Original series premiere globally to date, based on hours streamed in an opening weekend. pic.twitter.com/bC5WI0kAby
— Star Wars (@starwars) May 31, 2022
However, the successful opening of yet another hit series in the Star Wars saga was overshadowed by accusations of racism and Disney’s woke culture taking center stage yet again.
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Unlike Mandalorian and Fett, I had more trepidation going into the Kenobi series. There was just more they could get wrong with it, and they didn’t have quite the same writing and directing team that propelled the first two series. Yes, I maintain a Disney+ subscription despite the company’s rampant wokeism, simply because I never outgrew my internal Star Wars geek, a trait inherited by my son.
So far, this difficult choice has paid off in the form of superior entertainment. With Kenobi, however, I went in all but watching between my fingers in anticipation of them screwing it up. “Please don’t suck, please don’t suck,” I incanted over and over. We can skip the critique of the entire two episodes, which didn’t really suck, and move directly to the character of Third Sister Reva (a black human woman, a fact which will become relevant shortly). Reva is a Sith and a member of the Inquisitor Team that is rounding up any remaining Jedis throughout the galaxy for interrogation, torture, and death. Without giving away any spoilers, Reva plays a prominent role and becomes the main “bad guy” in the new series.
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The actress playing Reva, Moses Ingram, has reportedly claimed she received vile, racist messages via Instagram regarding her performance. In response, the official Star Wars social media accounts put out messages denouncing critics of Ingram’s performance, stating racism has no place in the Star Wars universe. Kenobi star Ewen MacGregor put out a video message:
A personal message from Ewan McGregor. pic.twitter.com/rJSDmj663K
— Star Wars (@starwars) June 1, 2022
In response to those messages, many fans clapped back, saying the Reva character was poorly written, woodenly acted by Ingram, and had ridiculous digital effects.
It’s turned into a whole thing.
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
There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.
— Star Wars (@starwars) May 31, 2022
Originally, this statement appeared to imply that anyone who disliked the new character, the acting, or the writing must be racist. Disney has followed up with claims that Ingram received racist comments on her Instagram posts:
As Ingram made her debut as the character of Reva Sevander — one of Darth Vader’s inquisitors tasked with hunting down Jedi — on the widely anticipated Disney Plus show on Friday, the star described a torrent of threatening and racist messages on Instagram. One said that her “days are numbered.” Another branded her a “diversity hire.” Other messages used the n-word.
The Hollywood Reporter added a bit more detail, saying Ingram had put out a story on Instagram (which has since expired and can no longer be seen):
…. shared on her Instagram stories several of the absolutely horrendous online messages aimed at her, some of which included the N-word.
“There’s nothing anybody can do about this,” Ingram said in a video after sharing the spewed venom she’s endured. “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.”
Not having seen the Instagram story before it expired, I can’t speak to the use of the n-word, which is indefensible. On the other hand, saying “your days are numbered” and calling her a “diversity hire” speak more to the quality of the role in the series and to woke culture at Disney than to the supposed racism of the commenters.
As always, context matters here, a point wokesters refuse to acknowledge. Many Star Wars fans clapped back at the racism accusations. Here’s a sampling from the Facebook post:
Many were also quick to remind Disney how they treated another actress in a Star Wars series that faced vile messages on social media:
Why did @StarWars ignore the death threats and harassment sent to Gina Carano?
Here is just a sample of the bullying, body shaming, and sexual assault she took for 7 months. pic.twitter.com/HUleYIBk3H
— Dataracer (@Dataracer117) June 1, 2022
As a Star Wars geek, I just hope the Reva character becomes more believable and Disney stops accusing people of racism if they don’t like the show.
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