Rian Johnson Slams Abusive 'Star Wars' Fans Who Pushed Kelly Marie Tran to Leave Instagram
After Kelly Marie Tran was forced to delete all the photos on her Instagram account reportedly due to the hate that she received for her role in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," filmmaker Rian Johnson slammed the bullies in the franchise's fandom.
In a series of posts that he shared on his Twitter account after Tran wiped out her Instagram, Johnson talked about "a few unhealthy people" who were part of the "Star Wars" fandom.
"On social media a few unhealthy people can cast a big shadow on the wall, but over the past 4 years I've met lots of real fellow SW fans. We like & dislike stuff but we do it with humor, love & respect. We're the VAST majority, we're having fun & doing just fine," Johnson stated in one of his post.
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When a fan seemed to defend the attacks on Tran's character Rose Tico in the film as constructive criticism, Johnson said that there is a difference between expressing one's dislike about a movie and blatantly harassing a woman to the point of driving her away from social media.
Before the film opened in cinemas in 2017, the 29-year-old actress admitted on her Instagram page that she opted to stay away from public social media because she was afraid of scrutiny.
"It took me a year of self-work—and some really amazing, supportive friends—to make me realize that it's none of my business if people like me or not. It doesn't change my goals, my dreams, what I want to do with the opportunities I've been given," the actress stated in a deleted post that was reported by E! News.
Tran, a San Diego native with a Vietnamese-American descent, was the first woman of color to land a major role in the epic sci-fi movie saga.
However, after "The Last Jedi" debuted in December, the actress became a recipient of abusive comments from avid "Star Wars" fans.
According to BBC, the Wookiepedia page of Rose Rico was vandalized with a slur that was normally used to make fun of people who have an East Asian accent. Her name was changed to "Ching Chong Wing Tong" and described her as "stupid, autistic and retarded."
The administrators of the online "Star Wars" encyclopedia decided to lock down her page from public editing in order to protect it from being vandalized again in the future. In a statement published on Newsweek, the website's staff stated: "The wiki admins take this very seriously and took the steps to resolve this situation as quickly as possible, including escalation to our team, and subsequent lockdown. This lockdown will remain for the foreseeable future and we will be closely monitoring activity on this wiki."
Other fans made fun of her Asian ethnicity as well as her physical appearance, particularly her weight.
Tran was not the only one who was harassed by "Star Wars" fans on social media. Her co-star Daisy Ridley also decided to delete her own Instagram account due to the hate that she received for an anti-gun statement.
