For all the good the Star Wars fandom has done in the past, behavior like what’s been going on with Kelly Marie Tran is unacceptable.
This writer, most of the time, is pretty proud to be a Star Wars fan, part of a fanbase that has seen 40 years of media across all kinds of platforms. Star Wars has helped me make friends. It’s given me things to look forward to. It’s irritated me a lot lately with its hiring decisions and movie choices, but I’m still a fan of this franchise.
And so it hurts to see when so-called fans drive an actress in the series to wipe her Instagram page clean. Reports from Jezebel and others have it that Kelly Marie Tran has done this due to fan harassment about her and her character, Rose Tico.
Look. I won’t pretend to say that Culturess doesn’t love Rose and Kelly Marie both. On the whole, we think she’s been a really good addition to the franchise. But the fact that so-called fans can’t contain themselves from harassing her so much because they don’t like her character is absolutely wrong.
There are other words for it, but that is the simplest term. It is wrong. This is not something to feel proud of. This is not something to celebrate as a good behavior. She has spoken before about how excited she was to join the franchise and how much she loves the character.
This is not to say that it’s wrong to dislike characters in Star Wars. It is good to ask better of this franchise and all franchises. But when that goes beyond just saying that you didn’t like something or explaining why to insulting and harassing the person who brings that character to life, you have gone beyond the limits of acceptable fan behavior.
This sums up how this fan feels about this whole situation:
Here’s hoping that Kelly sees these messages of support.
Here’s mine: I love Rose Tico, and I love what you have brought to the franchise. I can’t wait to see more in Episode IX, and I’m sorry that some “fans” can’t act in an acceptable way.