Mark Hamill and Rian Johnson Stand by Kelly Marie Tran After Online Harassment: ‘Done With This Disingenuous Bullshit’
Zack Sharf
Kelly Marie Tran has been in the news this week after reportedly deleting all of her photos off Instagram due to nonstop harassment and bullying from “Star Wars” fans upset with her character in “The Last Jedi” and her casting in the franchise overall. The actress’ co-star Mark Hamill and director Rian Johnson won’t stand for the harassment and have taken to social media themselves to stick up for Tran.
Hamill posted on his Twitter page a loving photo of himself and Tran embracing. The actor captioned the photo “What’s not to love?” and included a dig at the harassers by using the hashtag #GetALifeNerds.
Johnson, meanwhile, referred to Tran’s online abusers as “man-babies” in a separate tweet. The filmmaker expressed frustration with the fact people are harassing Tran personally and not just targeting her character, Rose Tico. Johnson knows firsthand the wrath of “Star Wars” fans after receiving backlash himself for “The Last Jedi,” but he’s ok with people criticizing story and character. Targeting real people is what’s never appropriate.
“Done with this disingenuous bullshit,” Johnson replied to a Twitter user complaining about the fact “critiquing” and “showing dislike against something” isn’t “trolling.” “You know the difference between not liking a movie and hatefully harassing a woman so bad she has to get off social media. And you know which of those two we’re talking about here.”
“You’re conflating critiquing a movie with being an abusive asshole to people online,” he continued, “when it’s clear as day they are two seperate things and we’re condemning the latter and not the former.”
Hamill and Johnson are the latest stars defending Tran in the wake of her leaving social media after being harassed. Actors such as Kumail Nanjiani have used social media to also defend Tran. The actress was harassed online for months, with angry fans criticizing her appearance and the fact her character is another woman in a major “Star Wars” role. The harassment extended to the “Star Wars” Wookieepedia website, where people altered the Rose Tico page to feature racist language.
Tran is notable for being the first woman of color to star in a lead role in a “Star Wars” movie. You can read Hamill and Johnson’s defenses in the posts below.
What’s not to love?#GetALifeNerds pic.twitter.com/k1sa0X1qpg
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) June 6, 2018
What we talk about when we talk about manbabies
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 5, 2018
Done with this disingenuous bullshit. You know the difference between not liking a movie and hatefully harassing a woman so bad she has to get off social media. And you know which of those two we’re talking about here.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 5, 2018
Your “implication” was not an implication at all, it was explicitly stated in your tweet: you’re conflating critiquing a movie with being an abusive asshole to people online, when it’s clear as day they are two seperate things & we’re condemning the latter and not the former.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 5, 2018
