Simon Pegg, who had a cameo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Unkar Plutt, has recently called out Star Wars fans for their toxic behaviour. The actor, who played a hand in the savage hate of the Prequels, claimed he knows what it’s like to be a toxic fan of the series. However, in recent years, it’s been worse than ever.
Pegg calls out toxic Star Wars fans
During an interview on SiriusXM's “Jim and Sam” (via The Wrap), Pegg was asked what franchise has the most toxic fanbase. Without skipping a beat, Pegg named Star Wars fans the most toxic fandom out there, saying: “Star Wars fan base seems to be the most toxic at the moment."
The Force Awakens actor does admit that he was a big part of that toxicity. Many fans remember that Pegg was fairly vocal about his dislike of the prequels, particularly Jar Jar Binks, and the actor admits that he feels horrible about his previous behavior.
“I’ve apologized for the things I said about Jar Jar Binks,” Pegg explains. “Cause of course there was a f—ing actor involved. 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.”
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Star Trek fans better than Star Wars fans?
Elaborating on Star Wars fans being toxic, Simon Pegg brings up how the franchise got flak from these fans by adding a bit of diversity to the franchise via the Disney sequels. Comparing them to Star Trek fans, Pegg says that Trekkies have always been inclusive due to the show’s themes, whereas Star Wars fans are seemingly more bigoted in comparison.
“There’s no sort of like, ‘Oh, you’re suddenly being woke.’ No. ‘Star Trek’ was woke from the beginning….This is massively progressive,” explains Pegg. “‘Star Wars,’ suddenly there’s a little bit more diversity and everyone’s kicking off about it. And it’s really sad.”
While Star Trek does have its fair share of toxic fans, the ones in Star Wars seem to be a lot worse. Moses Ingram, who plays The Third Sister in Obi-Wan Kenobi, received a bunch of racist comments from these Star Wars “fans.” Kelly Marie Tran and Daisy Ridley also received their fair share of bullying from this toxic fandom.
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