Ewan McGregor has blasted the racist abuse his Obi-Wan Kenobi costar Moses Ingram has received, in a video message shared on the official Star Wars Twitter account.
The post on Wednesday, June 1, came some hours after the Star Wars account itself shared a statement, urging fans of the franchise: "Don’t choose to be a racist".
“It seems that some of the fan base has decided to attack Moses Ingram online and send her the most horrendous, racist DMs. I heard some of them this morning, and it just broke my heart,” McGregor said in the video.
“Moses is a brilliant actor. She is a brilliant woman. And she is absolutely amazing in this series. She brings so much to the series, she brings so much to the franchise. And it just sickened me to my stomach that this had been happening,” he continued.
“I just want to say, as the lead actor in the series, as the executive producer on the series, that we stand with Moses. We love Moses. And if you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no Star Wars fan in my mind. There’s no place for racism in this world. And I totally stand with Moses.”
On Tuesday, Ingram, who portrays an Imperial Inquisitor hunting McGregor's Obi-Wan in the series, shared with her followers a string of racist messages she'd received from trolls.
Uploading screenshots to her Instagram story, some of the commenters told her that her "days are numbered" and branded her a mere "diversity hire".
Ingram said that she had been sent "hundreds" of messages of this nature .
She said: "I question what my purpose is even being here in front of you saying this is happening. I think the thing that bothers me is that, like, sort of, this feeling that I've had inside of myself, which no one has told me, but this I just have to shut up and bear it, and I'm not built like that."
She also expressed gratitude to those who had stood up for her in the comments, adding their support "means the world".
Ingram added: "So I really just wanted to come on, I think, and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places that I'm not going to put myself. And to the rest of y'all: Y'all weird."