Entertainment
Stephen Colbert’s New Star Wars Trailer Is the Best Comeback for Kelly Marie Tran’s Trolls
Stephen Colbert just became everyone’s hero, but mostly for “Star Wars” actress Kelly Marie Tran, as he came to her defense on his late night talk show. Colbert broadcast his own version of the “Star Wars” movie trailer, putting internet trolls in their place after fans harassed Tran on her Instagram account. Tran has since deleted all her posts sadly due to the harassment and racist comments made by fans who disapprove of her being a part of the franchise. Tran is the first Asian-American actress to ever land a lead part in a “Star Wars” movie, but some people are not happy about it.
What may appear to be just an attack on Tran’s ethnicity is also an attack on her gender. It is a contradiction for many science fiction fans to want story lines that include mostly white people. The idea that white people, specifically men, are still the majority and hierarchy race and gender in a genre that creates new and unexplored worlds with alien creatures, rejects the inclusion of all existing life form.
Tran is not the only sc-fi actress to experience scrutiny from fandom extremist. In 2016 Daisy Ridley, another “Star Wars” actress, had also deleted her Instagram account allegedly due to harassment she faced from male fans.
Many comments on Tran’s Instagram criticized her movie character Rose Tico by using racist terms and even going as far as to post on the Wookipedia (the Star Wars Wiki) website to write vulgar and hurtful slurs insulting her intelligence and hoping her character would die.
Critics have also commented on Tran’s weight. Alt-right personality and political vlogger Paul Ray Ramsey tweeted a photo comparing Tran’s weight to actress Grace Park, who played pilot Boomer on “Battle Star Galatia”.
Battlestar Galactica Asian vs. #LastJedi Asian.
Obviously, The First Order failed to cut off the #Resistance supply line of food. pic.twitter.com/5NyvMykzNr
— RAMZPAUL (@ramzpaul) December 19, 2017
In support of Tran, celebrities and fans tweeted their thoughts, showing compassion and speaking out against cyber bullying.
Today’s #WCW goes out to Kelly Marie Tran. While I don’t know her, I FEEL her. She was recently driven off of social media due to harassment & bullying. It pains me to see underrepresented women feeling abused & isolated, all while having to defend their own existence. More ?? pic.twitter.com/T1EjoUr8QI
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) June 6, 2018
this is kelly marie tran’s reaction to seeing a fan dressed as rose ? she is genuinely a good person and disliking a movie/character is never an excuse to send hate to a person. i hope kelly knows how much the star wars fandom loves her :’( pic.twitter.com/N0UlO5wluI
— alexis (@lukeorgana) June 5, 2018
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