John Boyega is used to addressing “Star Wars” fans who criticize his character in "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens."
Ever since the film’s trailer was released in 2014, some people have been offended by the idea of a black Stormtrooper; it's a notion that prompted Boyega’s Instagram response -- which was later deleted -- of "Get used to it" back in November 2014.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, the British actor says that he has no real issue with the prejudiced comments, and is fine with critics threatening to boycott the film, especially since the boycott, he says, failed "miserably."
“I’m grounded in who I am, and I am a confident black man. A confident, Nigerian, black, chocolate man,” he said. “I’m proud of my heritage, and no man can take that away from me. I wasn’t raised to fear people with a difference of opinion. They are merely victims of a disease in their mind. To get into a serious dialogue with people who judge a person based on the melanin in their skin? They’re stupid, and I’m not going to lose sleep over people.”
The 23-year-old provided a pretty stellar response when asked if he felt the need to respond to critics.
“I just don’t get it. You guys got every single alien in this movie imaginable to man. With tentacles, five eyes. Aliens that, if they existed, we’d definitely have an issue,” he said. “We’d have to get them to the government and be, like, ‘What are you?’ Yet what you want to do is fixate on another human being’s color. You need to go back to school and unlearn what you have learned.”
Read more of John Boyega’s New York Times interview here.
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