John Boyega, who played the lead character Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, took to Twitter recently to clarify his comments about diversity at this year's Screen Nation Awards, which honors the U.K. film and television's diverse talent.
The 24-year-old actor won Best Male Performance in film at the awards show Saturday. However, he hasn't won the favor of most people with his supposed words of encouragement in his acceptance speech regarding the recent debate about racial diversity in Hollywood.
Boyega's controversial comments went as follows:
To complain about what is going on is not going to benefit us. Be the change you want to be. Be the change, and continue and focus.Thank you so much.
Take a look at some of the negative response on Twitter:
Boyega later took to his official Twitter account to apologize and clarify that he didn't intend on criticizing those who speaks up about diversity. The actor further explained that "there was work to be done" about the issue.
Diversity has long been an issue in Hollywood, but more so during this year's Academy Awards when all Oscar nominees were found to be suspiciously homogeneous two years in a row.
I personally didn't find anything wrong with Boyega's speech, which to me sounded on point about using hard work to become the best version of yourself. But I understand how some people will react over such a sensitive issue in the industry. It's pretty cool though that the actor took the effort to thoroughly explain his side of the story.
Hopefully, the complaints will stop. Just as the actor pointed out, there is work to be done. Focusing on ourselves and being the change we want to see will take us farther than “commenting” on the issue.
Boyega isn't the only The Force Awakens star to receive backlash. Actress Daisy Ridley recently had to address a comment about "real women" having curves.
Boyega will appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is slated for release on December 15, 2017.
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