Having witnessed the offensive response to John Boyega’s 2014 casting in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” when Naomi Ackie was cast in Episode IX of the popular franchise, “Rise of Skywalker,” she took no chances in letting online trolls get to her. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter for a recent interview on her career, “Blink Twice” star Ackie reflected on being told by insiders to delete her Instagram in order to avoid any potential backlash that may come from her casting.
“I had heard that anyone of color would get wrapped up in some racist shit,” she said. “I didn’t want to have a place for them to come with their comments.”
However, once Disney realized she’d deleted her platform our of fear, they worked to get her back on and feeling safe in the process.
“They did some sort of magic thing where I instantly got the checkmark [verification] and all these followers, and then ‘Star Wars’ came out, and it was fine and I sat with that for a bit. But then I eventually found myself scrolling too much, comparing myself to other people and becoming jealous, sad and depressed,” Ackie said. “I started putting stuff on my page that was attention-seeking. Trying to be funny on my Insta stories, or trying to be hot, trying to be a thirst trap from my fucking house share that I lived in with three other guys. It was like, what the fuck, this is not working at all and I don’t feel good about it. I eventually realized it was time to get rid of it properly.”
Ackie and Boyega aren’t the only one who faced racism as a result of taking part in a “Star Wars” project. Shortly after the Disney+ limited series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” debuted, Moses Ingram, who played Jedi hunter Inquistor Reva, was met with an onslaught of atrocious DMs and comments on Instagram, including one that read, “You suck, loser. You’re a diversity hire and you won’t be loved or remembered for this acting role.”
Responding to the hate in a video on Instagram, Ingram said, “I think the thing that bothers me is that like, sort of this feeling that I’ve had inside of myself. This feeling that no one has told me, but like I just got to shut up and take it. I just got to bury it. And I’m not built like that. So I really just wanted to come on, I think, and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places I’m not going to put myself. And to the rest of y’all, y’all weird.”
Ingram can currently be seen in the Apple TV+ series “The Lady in the Lake,” while Ackie stars in the Amazon MGM Studios film “Blink Twice,” in theaters now.
