#BlackStormtrooper

Overview

#BlackStormtrooper is a hashtag associated with online backlash surrounding British actor John Boyega’s appearance as a Stormtrooper soldier in the teaser trailer for the upcoming 2015 science fiction film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Background

On November 28th, 2014, a teaser trailer for the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released on the Movieclips Trailers YouTube channel (shown below). The trailer opens with a shot of the fictional desert planet Tatooine, where a Stormtrooper (played by Boyega) suddenly pops into frame from below.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

That day, Twitter users began commenting on Boyega’s appearance with the hashtag #BlackStormtrooper,^[1] some of which joked about his race or questioned it’s canonical validity in the Star Wars universe (shown below).

Also on November 28th, Redditor MatthewWilkes submitted a screen captured image of Boyega from the trailer titled “We ain’t found shit!”, in reference to a scene featuring an African American stormtrooper in the 1987 comedy film Spaceballs. In less than a week, the post gathered more than 4,200 votes (84% upvoted) on the /r/funny^[4] subreddit. Meanwhile, in a comment thread about the trailer on the /r/videos^[5] subreddit, Redditors discussed Boyega’s appearance in the film. On the following day, IGN Forums^[3] member Virus_698 submitted a thread titled “So why is there a black stormtrooper in the new Star Wars movie?”

Boyega’s Response

On November 29th, Boyega posted a message on Instagram^[2] giving thanks to his fans, along with a statement for certain readers to “Get used to it” (shown below). Within one week, the post gained over 4,700 likes and 690 comments.

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the Internet response to Boyega, including The Daily Dot,^[6] The Christian Science Monitor,^[7] The Atlantic,^[8]CNN^[9] and the New York Daily News.^[10]