The Star Wars online fandom is never short on embarrassing hot takes, but the latest horrible reaction to Disney and Lucasfilm’s public declaration of solidarity with actor Moses Ingram in the wake of her treatment by racist trolling really takes the entire Hutt-sized horrible cake. A contingent of galactic sea lions is trying to “whatabbout” Ingram’s situation with the firing of conspiracy theorist Gina Carano.
The analogy is simply false. Carano was let go from her role as Alliance shock trooper Cara Dune following months of erratic online behavior during which she spewed debunked antivaxx conspiracies as well as a now-notorious post in which she compared the current political climate against conservatives in the U.S. with the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust.
Ingram, on the other hand, played a character in a TV show. And happened to be black. And suffered the vitriol of hundreds of trolls as a result.
And while many of the people attempting to flog the narrative that Carano’s purported lack of support following her firing is analogous to Ingram’s experience have correctly pointed out that Carano received unwarranted personal attacks, this alone still doesn’t change the fact that Carano’s experience is informed by behavior whereas Ingram’s is almost purely a backlash against the amount of melanin she possesses.
Sadly, none of this is new to the fandom and should probably be expected. Unfortunately, there are probably many conversations about Star Wars and racism yet to come. The franchise is only just coming to the defense of actors like Ingram after years of dropping the ball when it comes to actors of color in the franchise and its latest attempt to back Ingram online, while absolutely the right thing to do, is merely a step in the right direction for now.
But it has zip, nada, and zilch to do with the behavior and firing of Carano. That ain’t it.
