*“Star Wars” newcomer John Boyega is speaking directly to the haters who didn’t appreciate his appearance as a Stormtrooper in the first “Force Awakens” trailer because he is black.
“I’m in the movie, what are you going to do about it?” Boyega, who plays a young Jedi in the seventh installment of the franchise, told V Magazine in a new interview. “You either enjoy it or you don’t. I’m not saying get used to the future, but what is already happening. People of color and women are increasingly being shown on-screen. For things to be whitewashed just doesn’t make sense.”
Boyega first addressed the backlash in December on Instagram, writing, “To whom it may concern… Get used to it.”
Boyega confirmed earlier this year that his character Finn in “The Force Awakens” does indeed start off as a stormtrooper, but more trailers showing him working the lightsaber suggest he’s much more than a soldier fighting to preserve the Galactic Empire.
The role, he says, is a big step away from the stereotypical roles black actors have been “forced to take” in the past.
