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Star Wars: Hayden Christensen Tells Kelly Marie Tran To Ignore Haters
Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen has responded to the bullying controversy surrounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi star Kelly Marie Tran, insisting that the best way forward for the actress is to ignore her vocal haters. Tran starred as Rose Tico in 2017’s Episode VIII, becoming the first minority woman to take on a major role in the iconic franchise. But, unfortunately, having the amazing opportunity to play Rose didn’t exactly work out perfectly for Tran.
Over the course of this summer, Tran has been targeted by an intense campaign of bullying by an anti-Disney group of trolls. The group has dedicated itself to an intense, coordinated online harassment campaign to combat what they perceive to be Disney’s mission to cater to progressive politics. These trolls take issue with Disney’s choices of casting minorities, like Tran and John Boyega, in lead roles, and opting to write female protagonists - namely Daisy Ridley's Rey and Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso - in the newest Star Wars films. Their use of hate speech and barbed threats over social media actually pushed Tran to erase all of her posts from her Instagram account back in June to escape the bullying. But she's not alone in her struggle.
In a recent interview with ET Canada, Hayden Christensen, who has received his fair share of criticism from Star Wars fans for his performance as Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, offered his own response to Tran’s predicament. Christensen was on the red carpet of his upcoming film, Little Italy, when he was asked if he had any advice for Tran in dealing with bullies from the Star Wars fandom. The actor replied, “I don’t know if I have any advice for that, but just…you know, don’t take it too seriously, because…unfortunately, [bullies] are the ones that make the most noise. But the majority of people don’t feel that way, so, keep that in mind.”
Star Wars' fandom is huge, so there's bound to be toxicity. Tran and Christensen aren’t the only actors in the franchise to receive backlash; Jake Lloyd was bullied by fans young and old for his role in The Phantom Menace, while earlier this summer, Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best revealed that he was pushed to suicidal thoughts after the backlash he received for his role in the prequel films. It is the dark side of Star Wars fandom that has existed for many years that is just now receiving intense public scrutiny after Tran’s experience with online trolls.
Christensen has always approached criticisms and hate over his performance with an even keel over the years, so his philosophy of advice to Tran makes sense. Nor is he the only voice that has spoken up in support of Tran. Her co-star John Boyega and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson spoke out with their own condemnations of Tran’s bullies, and they are only a few examples that represent an entire community that has rallied behind her.
Tran appears to agree with Christensen’s approach to hate. This week, she wrote a guest column in the New York Times that detailed some of the struggles she has encountered over the years as an actress. Tran further wrote on how she refuses to focus on her haters and will instead use her platform to uplift and empower women of color and marginalized communities who might be looking up to her as a role model. Tran has made it clear that she will not allow toxic bullies to rule her life.
Release Date:
- Star Wars 9 / Star Wars: Episode IX (2019) release date: Dec 20, 2019
