The Acolyte star Jodie Turner-Smith thinks Disney — as well as other studios — could be doing a lot more to protect its stars from bigotry online.
Disney+'s latest live-action Star Wars series was canceled after one season earlier this year, a decision that has ushered in a variety of fan campaigns to see the story of Osha, Mae, the Stranger, and more continue. But Turner-Smith is also holding the company accountable for its silence on the online harassment received by its stars, much of it openly racist.
“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f*cking dog-piled on the internet with racism and bullsh*t,” Turner-Smith said in a recent interview with Glamour magazine. “It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”
“It would just be nice if the people that have all the money were showing their support and putting their feet down,” she continued. “Say this is unacceptable: ‘You’re not a fan if you do this.’ Make a really big statement and just see if any money leaves. I bet you it won’t, because people of colour, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power. They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”
Disney has not yet responded to IGN's request for comment on Turner-Smith's statements.
Turner-Smith isn't the first member of the cast to speak out on the subject. Star Amandla Stenberg released a song on Juneteeth, in the midst of The Acolyte Season 1, responding to "those who are flooding me with intolerable racism."
It's also far from the first time the topic of online harassment has been broached not only in Hollywood, but specifically within Star Wars. Back in 2022, Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram said she received hundreds of racist messages following her debut as Reva Sevander, aka the Third Sister. In response, the official Star Wars social media accounts issued strong statements in support of Ingram, saying in part, "There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don't choose to be a racist."
“It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”
That was followed by a video message from star Ewan McGregor, who said, "We stand with Moses, we love Moses, and if you're sending her bullying messages, you're no 'Star Wars' fan in my mind."
But the statements surrounding Ingram and the official Star Wars accounts remain Disney's only official response on the issue. It's something that's been openly criticized by sequel trilogy star John Boyega, who said in the past that studios need to "advocate for actors when they face backlash for their casting, especially when it revolves around race."
Turner-Smith's comments also come in the wake of a lengthy Variety article about how studios at large are dealing with "toxic fandom." The measures outlined by Variety's sources include putting their stars through "social media boot camp" and conducting screenings with "a specialized cluster of superfans" to assess what kind of marketing might spur fans to "retaliate."
But Turner-Smith is hopeful, at least, that the winds of online discourse will eventually move elsewhere.
“Opinions change. What’s in vogue changes," she said. "We’re gonna get there at some point, to that place where people stop having a stick up their arse about people of colour being a part of IPs that were created by white people. You know why? Because we’re never going to f*cking stop participating.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.