Following the release of the new “Star Wars” trailer, media got to buzzing about purported racist uproar over a black Stormtrooper. Tweeter and blogger @redsteeze documented some of the media frenzy in a post:
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539805075703881729
From The Wilderness:
The issue of [actor John] Boyega’s skin color has been such a heated topic of debate online that none of the news outlets who ran stories about fan racism directed at Boyega could cite a single example of it happening. Not on Twitter. Not in an Op-ed, not on movie fan sites.
Not one.
The story appeared at Mashable by Annie Colbert and once again didn’t link any actual criticisms about Boyega’s race. The closest any of them came wasKimberley Dadds from Buzzfeed embedding tweets that mentioned people were outraged yet linked or provided no examples to any actual racist comments to which those tweets were referring to. Variations of this story that appeared at The Wrap and Verge opted for headlines like “Black Stormtrooper fires back at critics” but didn’t reference a single critic. Yahoo Movies took it a step further and used the occasion to slam Fox and Rupert Murdoch but once again provided no tweets, links or blogs. Kriston Capps from The Atlantic wrote a full Op Ed titled “Of Course there are black Storm Troopers” with the tone that people were once again objecting and he was simply responding to them. Yet in his entire piece, he didn’t provide a single link, tweet or even anonymous YouTube comment, deferring instead to a Mel Brooks joke about the black troopers using an afro pick to “comb the desert” in Spaceballs. If these writers are going to start claiming Mel Brooks is racist they may want to reach further back to minimize any attempt at looking foolish by targeting Blazing Saddles instead.
We highly recommend reading the full post.
As @redsteeze mentions, writer Kriston Capps was among those who claimed to see evidence of a racist backlash against the decision to cast Boyega as a Stormtrooper.
From The Atlantic:
Maybe the only people more alarmed than Boyega by his circumstances were commenters surprised by the sight of a black man’s head emerging from the white plate armor of an Imperial stormtrooper. People on Reddit compared the trailer to a scene from the 1987 Mel Brooks spoof Space Balls, a gag that plays up a black stormtrooper as jive-talkin’. In other threads and on Twitter, some people registered mere racist shock.
OK, but where’s the evidence of racism, exactly?
At 4:00 today I'll be on @HuffPostLive to talk about… http://t.co/THkNP9wIfD pic.twitter.com/EhWdUWuN1Z
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539798349638291457
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539799130517041152
https://twitter.com/drazyw/status/539801995792908288
@drazyw @redsteeze It's not possible to embed YouTube comments in a story. And clicking on a link to a comment doesn't open that comment.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
@drazyw @redsteeze In fact, I tried to embed a screengrab, but it was on a holiday and I was editing from my phone and it didn't take.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539809722741039106
@redsteeze Of several comments to give examples of what prompted my essay
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539809884142067712
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539810165495967745
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539810378709204992
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539810517880434688
@redsteeze After I saw the trailer, I saw Reddit and Twitter comments about how Star Wars was going SJW and PC; and racist YouTube responses
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
YouTube comments? Really?
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539810645357907968
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539810801113387008
@redsteeze I did link to the Reddit thread and explained where else I found them. I recommend you search "Star Wars" plus "SJW" or "PC"
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539811025705783296
.@redsteeze @kristoncapps You have GOT to be kidding me that you actually got someone to admit their "story" is based on YouTube comments!!
— Bob Garrett (@BobGarrettRadio) December 2, 2014
@BobGarrettRadio @redsteeze You can read my story to see that I was… responding to responses
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539811547233923072
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539812146826473472
@redsteeze Racist YouTube comments are a low bar, true. But the #SJW criticism was immediate (and still active) on Twitter/Reddit.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539812436204081152
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539812600218148865
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539812821736095744
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539812924249088000
@redsteeze Tbh, I did include some screencaps (from my phone) but could not post them (using my phone).
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539813465872138240
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539813598093385728
@redsteeze No—not true. It's simply not the case that most people are responding to a handful of articles published over the weekend.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
@redsteeze I'm not sure that they ever amounted to much of a controversy and I can only claim responsibility for my story, not BF or Kos.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539813904684449793
@redsteeze It's a little late to add in links now—but I was responding to comments I saw immediately on Reddit, Twitter, and lowly YouTube.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814197987909632
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814242736943104
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814368364740608
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814460614262785
@redsteeze You can keep delimiting it to a few YouTube comments, as if that's all I was responding to, but that's not true or generous.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814575328477184
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814875992948737
@redsteeze I only wrote the story for The Atlantic this time
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539815503934812160
@redsteeze I saw a couple stories that cribbed off mine. I saw some that worked from their own observations.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539814987792154624
@redsteeze There is right now running criticism that SJW/PC will ruin Star Wars. How do you feel about that?
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539815223327481856
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539815354323968000
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539816167209435136
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539816524471861248
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539816678914527232
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539817038269915136
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539817119580708865
@redsteeze I'd rather focus on what what I wrote—not what you think liberals everywhere are saying. My story runs long on clone history.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539817459248021504
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539817601543987200
@redsteeze I wrote 12 words about racist responses online, and 7 paragraphs about the intra-universe objetions over clones/stormtroopers.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539817794523918336
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539818030621286401
.@redsteeze Dude. A dozen racists on YouTube is proof of a wide racist backlash against the trailer, man. It's Science. @kristoncapps
— RBe (@RBPundit) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539818207310512128
@redsteeze That's not at all my responsibility. I wrote a very clear story about clones and race inside the SW universe.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539818533426065410
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539818710085926912
@redsteeze Re-read my story again. I only wrote the one story. Its aim is very clear—why stormtroopers aren't clones and can be black.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539818997416734721
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539819192175042560
@redsteeze My story proves that stormtroopers can be black because they aren't clones. I think you're mostly responding to other stories?
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539819753045778432
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539819904955084800
@redsteeze My *entire* essay focuses on the second group. Please consider re-reading it. pic.twitter.com/NLofRzTHvg
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539820581588598784
@redsteeze Tbh, I think you're upset with a narrative that my story didn't establish. These aren't the droids you're looking for.
— .@kristoncapps (@kristoncapps) December 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/539821128899117056
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Related:
‘Black Stormtrooper not trending’ yet? Trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ released
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