If you’ve been following John Boyega on social media for any length of time, especially in the months since the release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” you know the actor isn’t afraid to speak his mind and challenge folks that he doesn’t agree with. So, when the killing of George Floyd made headlines around the world, the young actor has been on the forefront of sharing his support for Black Lives Matter and speaking up against racism.
READ MORE: Spike Lee Talks George Floyd Killing & Says 2020 Is “One Of The Worst Years Ever”
And recently, according to Metro, Boyega spoke bluntly and passionately during a protest in Hyde Park where he didn’t mince words.
“I’m speaking to you from my heart. Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but fuck that,” said Boyega. “Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process, we don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones.”
He added, “Every Black person in here remembered when another person reminded you that you were Black. So none of you out there, all those protesters on the other side, protesting against what we want to do, protesting against what we want to try and achieve, burn you, this is so vital.”
His speech to fellow protesters in London caused waves on social media, as many applauded the actor for speaking his mind and not being concerned about how his words might affect his career. While we haven’t yet seen actors’ careers negatively impacted by speaking up regarding racism, we know that Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback, saw his career implode after kneeling during the US national anthem before football games. So, there is precedence for celebrities getting careers ruined by being open about their activism. Especially when the actor is someone like Boyega, who is one of the stars of the “Star Wars” franchise, a product of Lucasfilm, which is a subsidiary of Disney.
But in the case of Boyega, it appears he has the full support of his studio friends, as Lucasfilm went public with a tweet supporting the young actor and his words. So, at least for now, it doesn’t appear that Disney or Lucasfilm is concerned about activism affecting business, and that’s a good thing.