Actor John Boyega praised Disney’s approach to racially assaulting Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram.
The British actor, best known for his role as Finn in the “Star Wars” franchise, said Disney’s response to racism is a step ahead of his time working for the company.
After Ingram landed the role in the “Obi-Wan” series on Disney+, her DMs were immediately inundated with “hundreds” of hateful and racist messages.
The 28-year-old then shared screenshots of the messages she received, prompting Disney to speak out on social media.
Boyega appeared on SiriusXM’s Tell Me Everything With John Fugelsang and praised the way Disney approached the situation.
“Moses Ingram is protected, which makes me feel protected,” the actor explained.
“It makes me feel, ‘Okay, cool. I’m not the elephant in the room.’ Because when I started, it wasn’t really a conversation you could bring up.”
“You know how they went through it. It was sort of, “Let’s shut up.” It wasn’t a conversation you could bring up,” he added.
Boyega compared the support Ingram received from execs to the lack of support he received himself, and Boyega said it “fulfills my time where I didn’t get the support.”
“It doesn’t make me bitter at all. It makes me feel like you’re that guy sometimes. And that’s what my father taught me,” he continued.
“Sometimes you’re not the man who gets the blessing and sometimes you’re Moses, you know, you lead the people to the mountain, but you see the destination. You can’t go in, you get others to go in. And that’s where you get your happiness from.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Boyega spoke of his 2020 viral speech at the Black Lives Matter protest in London, which took place in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
“I don’t know what happened to me, man. I just had to say what I thought,” he said.
“And there was an essence of yes, it’s heartbreaking. It doesn’t feel right for you to do this, but I like that on one occasion I also spoke about the responsibility we have as men. And that responsibility that is diminishing.”