British actor John Boyega became an instant sensation on Friday for being the first character to appear in the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer.
The first thing you see, 21 seconds in, is 22-year-old Boyega, dressed as a stormtrooper, sweating and out of breath on the sands of Tatooine. Rather than show us any of the characters we already know in the clip, director J.J. Abrams chose to introduce four characters new to the saga — starting with Boyega.
And of course the trailer immediately received a big reaction online due to the fact that Boyega plays the first black stormtrooper to appear in the franchise.
The new Star Wars trailer... I'm calm... "There has been an awakening, have you felt it..?" IT'S A BLACK GUY STORMTROOPER, OMFG Whaaaaaat?!
Wtf why is there a black stormtrooper. Stormtroopers can't be black because they're clones of a white dude
I read the Star Wars comments to get more excited with the fandom only to come upon black stormtrooper hate comments. -_-
The "you can't have a black stormtrooper" argument is boiling my blood. Please, get the fuck out of my fandom.
A black stormtrooper?! THANKS, OBAMA!
"Black people have gotta get over their obsession with rac...BLACK STORMTROOPER?WTF?" #BlackStormtrooper #ExodusMovie
There are people angry that there's a black stormtrooper? Really? IT'S A FILM ABOUT PEOPLE FIGHTING WITH LASER SWORDS YEAH
I really hope that Black Stormtrooper is gay.
So Boyega decided to face the critics head on, shutting them down on his Instagram page with a simple "To whom it may concern... Get used to it. :)"
Nicely done, sir.
