By this time, Star Wars has made its name as one of the biggest franchises out there in the industry. With numerous movies and series under its name, the franchise has been widely popular among both the old as well as the new generations but there is also a dark side to it. The franchise was always considered one of the most toxic fandoms and now it’s just on a different level. Over time many celebrities have called out Star Wars for their toxic fandom and most recently it came from Simon Pegg.
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Star Wars called out by Simon Pegg:
The Shaun of the Dead actor openly admitted that Star Wars is the “most toxic fandom” by this time according to him. When he visited SiriusXM’s “Jim and Sam” show, he was asked to choose the most toxic fandoms among the ones he had worked with to which he replied that it is Star Wars.
“Star Wars fan base seems to be the most toxic at the moment.”
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The actor did not stop there as he went on to confess that once he was also one of those toxic ones. He apologized by saying that jokes related to the Prequel trilogy character Jar Jar Binks had always been a part of his earlier stand-up comedy routines but now “he feels terrible” about being a part of it as an actor was doing that role and he really suffered from all that hate people were giving:
“I’ve apologized for the things I said about Jar Jar Binks. Cause of course there was a f—ing actor involved. He was getting a lot of flack and…it was a human being. And because it got a lot of hate, he suffered, you know, and I feel terrible about being part of that.”
Simon Pegg also explained that, unlike Star Trek, Star Wars has been new in this race of including diversity in its projects, and it’s very sad that people are “kicking off about it”.
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Is Star Wars Falling to The Dark Side?
It is not the first time that this toxicity is been revealed. Earlier also many characters like Moses Ingram who played Reva in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series and Kelly Marie Tran who played Rose Tico from the Sequel trilogy had to face racism from the fans. Mean comments were directed toward them and most of them were racist and sexist.
As of now, the representation of diversity in media like MCU, Star Wars, and other shows is really important as it encourages people of all races, religions, and cultures to come forward and accept themselves as who they are and it should be openly supported by everyone. It is very normal to criticize a character for their lack of acting skills or depth in the movie but it is not at all normal to attack them for their skin color, race, or gender.
All the movies and series of Star Wars can be exclusively streamed on Disney+
