British-Nigerian actor, John Boyega has slammed Disney for ‘sidelining’ his Star Wars character and claiming ‘all the nuance’ was given to his white co-stars Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley.
The actor said he thinks Disney marketed his character as being ‘much more important’ than he actually was.
In a new interview with GQ, Boyega said:
“You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything.
“[But] 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.”
Discussing his experience of being a black cast member in the films, the actor suggested his white co-stars Driver and Ridley were given more complex characters in comparison to himself or Kelly Marie Tran, who is of Vietnamese descent.
Boyega claimed Disney, which distributes Star Wars, had given more ‘nuance’ to his co-stars and suggested the company did not know how to treat him as a black actor.
He said: “Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver.
“You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** all. So what do you want me to say?”
He added: “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.
The actor who has been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter campaign urged everyone to come together and create change.
The Circle actor said: “I feel like, especially as celebrities, we have to talk through this filter of professionalism and emotional intelligence.
“Sometimes you just need to be mad. You need to lay down what it is that’s on your mind. Sometimes you don’t have enough time to play the game.”
