John Boyega is not going to take any “Star Wars” criticisms you might have against him. In fact, he’ll call you out as racist and maintain that any negativity you may have against his performance is because he is a person of color. Yes, the mass online detractors that Boyega garnered when he was part of the Star Wars Disneyverse were primarily due to the fact that he is a black actor and the British-born actor wants better protection from the studio the next time around [via Variety]
“When one of your actors, especially an actor that’s so prominent in the story, is announced as part of your franchise and then it has a big racial backlash and receives abuse online and that starts to form a shadow on what is supposed to be an amazing gift, it is important for the studios to definitely lend their voice, lend their support to that and to have a sense of solidarity not just in the public eye, but on the ground on set. “Next time you cast someone in that position, you bring them through the process,” Boyega said. “They need that support. They can’t get Boyega-ed.”
Boyega played Finn in the recent SW trilogy, and Disney’s lack of intervention on Boyega’s part is still a sore spot for both the actor and his fans, but the real question I have is who gets to decide if this is actually racism or dislike for a bad actor? I don't believe the criticism against Finn/Boyega is because he's black, but more so because the character was poorly written. In fact, Oscar Isaac was pretty terrible also.
This is the adaptation of the nonfiction book by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz. It wrapped production in February and has been in post-production ever since. The film test-screened a few months ago.