Actor John Boyega is back in the headlines, and this time he’s unloading on the Star Wars franchise—again—for being, in his words, “so white” that black characters can’t possibly be accepted as heroes, as reported by Breitbart.
Boyega, who played Finn in Disney’s trilogy reboot, used the Apple TV+ documentary Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood as a platform to take more swings at the franchise that helped launch his career.
Boyega stated:
“‘Star Wars’ always had the vibe of being in the most whitest, elite space.”
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He argued that fans only accept black characters when they stay in their place—as sidekicks.
“They’re okay with us playing the best friend, but once we touch their heroes, once we lead, once we trailblaze, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s just a bit too much! They’re pandering.’”
Boyega claimed that fans mentioning characters like Lando Calrissian or Samuel L. Jackson’s Mace Windu are missing the point, comparing their inclusion to “cookie chips in cookie dough.”
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According to him, their presence didn’t count as real representation because they weren’t center-stage leads.
This isn’t the first time Boyega has aired his frustrations about Star Wars and Disney. Back in 2020, he told GQ magazine that Disney hyped up his role in marketing only to shove his character to the sidelines once the films were released.
“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. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up. You guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver. But when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f*ck all. So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley.”
Boyega insisted that Ridley and Driver’s characters were given far more depth and development.
“Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows.”
For someone who insists the Star Wars galaxy is too “white,” Boyega sure didn’t seem to mind being a part of the global juggernaut when the lights were shining brightest.
Despite his recurring criticisms, he did call his casting a “fundamental moment” in his career—though you wouldn’t guess it from the bitterness laced throughout his commentary.
At the end of the day, this feels less like a man raising a cultural point and more like another Hollywood star desperate to stay relevant by playing the race card.
The fans didn’t reject Boyega for being black—they just didn’t connect with a poorly written character. Maybe he should be pointing the finger at the scriptwriters, not the audience.
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