For the most part Disney+ has found success with its “Star Wars” series. However, its most recent project, “The Acolyte,” proved to be the most controversial title in its new crop. It ventured away from the familiar confines of the Skywalker Saga and set the story 100 years before the events of “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” Though it was praised by critics and real fans, a toxic portion of the fanbase couldn’t handle having Black LGBTQ+ actress Amandla Stenberg leading the story and relentlessly attacked it.
The series was review-bombed, with these online trolls calling it “woke” and using negative comments to drag down the drama’s audience scores on sites like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. Stenberg blames these attacks for the show’s cancellation, posting an Instagram Story on Wednesday about the “rampage of vitriol” the cast and crew have faced.
“I’m gonna be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me,” they said. “For those who aren’t aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was announced.”
“The Hate U Give” star explained how all the hurtful attacks online spoiled the fun of getting to work in the “Star Wars” Universe. Stenberg expected a certain amount of backlash, but was not prepared for the level that they were met with.
“We started experiencing a rampage of, I would say hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred, and hateful language towards us,” Stenberg said. “This really affected me when I first got the job, because even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it happens to you.”
Amandla stars in “The Acolyte” as force sensitive twins Osha and Mae, who find themselves caught in a huge Jedi conspiracy, as well as the beginnings of an ancient battle. It’s truly a shame that their masterful performance was overshadowed by all this other nonsense surrounding the series.
This has become an unfortunate pattern in the franchise, with actors like John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran and Moses Ingram all becoming the target of racist and misogynistic online harassment. For real “Star Wars” fans, it’s exhausting to keep defending the universe we love from prejudiced trolls who think they own the franchise, but we know that the Rebel Alliance always ends up defeating the Empire, so we’ll keep fighting.
By the way, if you’re gatekeeping “Star Wars” because you think only straight white guys are allowed to exist in a galaxy far, far away, then you’ve clearly missed the point of the entire story.