Rose Tico is a new and original Star Wars character created by acclaimed writer-director Rian Johnson. She appeared in The Last Jedi and was received positively by most people. Unfortunately a vocal minority of Star Wars fans hate the fictional character of Rose so much that they have been harassing and sending death threats to the actress who portrays her, Kelly Marie Tran. This harassment was so rampant and disgusting that it forced Tran to delete all of her social media posts on Instagram. She received several racist and sexist comments and messages from trolls and obsessed haters. Tran's Instagram account is still live, but there are no longer any posts. There is only a bio line that says "Afraid, but doing it anyway."
Rose Tico was the very first female Asian character to be featured in Star Wars film. Most audience members and members of the Asian American community enjoyed Rose as a character. Nevertheless trolls came to the attack with abusive comments and death threats.
The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson tweeted today about what happened:
"On social media a few unhealthy people can cast a big shadow on the wall, but over the past 4 years I've met lots of real fellow SW fans. We like and dislike stuff but we do it with humor, love & respect. We're the VAST majority, we're having fun & doing just fine.
Johnson then went on to refer to the people who harassed Tran as "manbabies" who need to move on already. Social media can be a nasty place for anyone who gets involved with these big franchises. What do you think of this news? Sound off below.
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