John Boyega has urged Star Wars fans to stop harassing the cast of the franchise online after his co-star Kelly Marie Tran quit social media due to bullying.
The Asian-American actress, who joined the franchise as Rose Tico in 2017's The Last Jedi, reportedly quit Instagram last week (ends10Jun18) after receiving abuse online from fans who took issue with her character.
Director Rian Johnson slammed the "manbabies" for forcing her to leave social media, and now the British actor, who plays Finn in the current trilogy, has weighed in on the matter with his own series of tweets.
"If you don’t like Star Wars or the characters understand that there are decisions makers and harassing the actors/ actresses will do nothing. You’re not entitled to politeness when your approach is rude. Even if you paid for a ticket!" he wrote.
"To the majority of Star Wars fans thank you for supporting and putting yourselves in our shoes. You understand that there is a process so much appreciated !"
His second tweet caught the attention of Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, who decided to add some humour to the mix.
"Be careful there son- the last time I let a fan put themself in my shoes, they just took off running & sold them on Ebay. #FatherlyAdvice #FoolMeOnce," Mark posted, and John replied, "Don’t worry dad ! I got spares !"
One fan asked John, 26, why Kelly had deleted all her Instagram posts, and he responded, "Kelly is an adult and has made her decision. I haven’t spoken to her so I am just as clueless. Just accept that you don’t know as I have."
He also posted a GIF image of Ricky Gervais laughing to one user who claimed all the cast had been told to be silent on social media as they film Episode IX.
Celebrities including Gabrielle Union, Reese Witherspoon, Olivia Munn and Zoe Saldana have all publicly thrown their support behind Kelly since she was driven off Instagram.
