Earlier this year, John Boyega criticized Disney for the poor handling of his character Finn in the ‘Stars Wars: The Force Awakens’ where John debuted seemingly as a major role in the movie, only to disappoint fans by taking back roles in ‘Rise Of Skywalker’.
Speaking with British GQ, John said: “You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything,”….”[But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
However, John’s heavy but honest criticism didn’t fall on deaf ears as he said he was contacted by an executive from Disney. John told The Hollywood Reporter that they had “a very honest, a very transparent conversation” where the executive made good efforts to explain their reasons for the changes whilst giving him a chance to voice out his take on the set.
He said: “It was a very honest, a very transparent conversation,” he said. “There was a lot of explaining on their end in terms of the way they saw things. They gave me a chance also to explain what my experience was like.”
As it stands now, no further confirmation about John Boyega’s role or relation with Disney has been made apparent but John is optimistic that his honest criticism would for sure help out the next person of colour who happens to work in the film industry.
John elaborated saying: “I’d hope that me being so open with my career, at this stage, would help the next man, the guy that wants to be the assistant DOP, the guy that wants to be a producer,” he said. “I hope that the conversation is not such a taboo or elephant in the room now, because someone just came and said it.”
We can appreciate John’s candid criticism of racism as a whole and hope his optimism isn’t misplaced.
Education: Computer Network Engineering, Computer Desktop Administration
Fave Song: Destiny's Child 'Dangerously in love'
Fave Colour: Grey.
With £1m what would you do: I would do my part to provide opportunities to the less fortunate. Then do my best to change the world in my own way through sports and talent building.
