Simon Pegg Says Star Wars Fanbase “Really Seems To Be The Most Kind Of Toxic At The Moment”, Claims They’re Angry About “A Little Bit More Diversity”
Spencer Baculi
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In the opinion of actor Simon Pegg, the Star Wars fanbase “really seems to be the most kind of toxic at the moment”, a trait which he believes stems from their anger over “a little bit more diversity” in a galaxy far, far away.
Source: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Disney
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Pegg, who himself has appeared in the once-beloved franchise as both Dengar in the twelfth episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ fourth season and Jakku junker boss Unkar Plutt in The Force Awakens, shared his opinion during a recent appearance on comedic pair Jim Norton and Sam Roberts’ self-titled SiriusXM show, Jim and Sam.
Asked by Roberts who he found to have “the hardest fans to please when you’re like jumping into the franchises between Dr. Who, Star Trek, Star Wars,” with the host noting “I mean, these are people who, who take these licenses very, very seriously,” the actor asserted, “To be honest — And as someone who kind of was, you know, kicked off about the prequels when they came out, the Star Wars fan base really seems to be the most kind of toxic at the moment.”
Source: Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 Episode 20 “Bounty” (2012), Lucasfilm Animation
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“I’m probably being very controversial to say that,” added Pegg. “I mean, I’m out of it now…I’ve apologized for the things I said about, you know, Jar Jar Binks. Cause of course there was a f–king actor involved.”
He continued, “He was getting a lot of flack and…It was a human being. And because it got a lot of hate, he suffered, you know, and I feel terrible about being part of that.”
Source: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Disney
Conversely, The J.J. Abrams’ cinematic Star Trek trilogy star then told his hosts that he found “Star Trek fans have always been very, very inclusive.”
“You know, Star Trek’s about diversity,” argued the actor. “It has been since 1966, it always was. There’s no sort of like, ‘Oh, you’re suddenly being woke.’ No Star Trek was woke from the beginning, you know?…This is massively progressive.”
“[With] Star Wars, suddenly there’s, there’s a little bit more diversity and everyone’s kicking off about it,” he said as he drew his thoughts to a close. “And it’s, it’s really sad.”
Source: Left to right: Deep Roy plays Keenser and Simon Pegg plays Scotty in Star Trek Beyond from Paramount Pictures, Skydance, Bad Robot, Sneaky Shark and Perfect Storm Entertainment
Pegg’s blanketing of Star Wars fans as vaguely racist comes roughly six weeks after Obi-Wan Kenobi actress Moses Ingram claimed to have received a torrent of racially-charged abuse regarding her role in the series.
However, as seen in screenshots shared by the actress herself in support of these claims, Ingram received only one explicitly racist message, with her other examples ranging from a reference to the South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut, to a negative message in which someone wrote, “You’re a diversity hire and you won’t be loved or remembered for this acting role.”
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