However, it is not enough to call these people "fans" simply pushing back against
The Last Jedi's themes of diversity or change. Nor is it enough to label them "trolls," "cry babies," or the often misused term "incels."
We need to talk about the fact that almost 40% of negative YouTube videos mentioning
The Last Jedi are from radical right wing or alt right accounts. These accounts have also dedicated their channels to hate campaigns against
Captain Marvel star Brie Larson, former SNL cast member Leslie Jones, and feminist YouTuber Anita Sarkeesian.
We need to discuss how the leaders of hate mongering against the film are radical conservatives including Ben Shapiro, founder of right-wing website The Daily Wire and former editor-at-large of Breitbart News. Breitbart is
notably responsible for pushing alt right ideology mainstream.
We need to discuss how the hashtag campaigns calling for fans to boycott
Solo: A Star Wars Story over hatred of
The Last Jedi are led by bloggers who spread white supremacist ideology under the cover of pop-culture reporting.
We need to discuss that the racist #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag aimed at
The Force Awakens actor John Boyega was started by members of an organization designated as a hate group by a leading United States civil rights organization, yet was written off as mere internet trolling. This kickstarted a slew of racist harassment against Lucasfilm employees, authors and actors that made Star Wars fandom a hot bed for alt-right recruitment in the ongoing 21st century "culture wars."
We need to talk about how this so-called "fan backlash" is part of a larger movement to change and control culture put into motion by former White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, in 2014. And it was a movement that successfully lead to far right governmental shifts in the United States, the UK, India, Italy, and Africa.
Leveraging over one million tweets and greater than one thousand YouTube videos, this article will track the successful rise of radical right wing hate, white supremacy, and misogyny in fan spaces starting with Gamergate and leading up to
The Rise of Skywalker.
This article is an analysis of the closely connected networks that enable hate to spread from influential white supremacist groups to mainstream YouTubers. It is a warning about the dangers of apathy and lack of education around organized hate in highly evolving technological spaces that will only continue to develop at a faster rate. But, most of all, this article is a plea for any entity that has enough power to control a narrative — whether it be major corporations like Disney or entertainment journalists at Vanity Fair — to be aware of how hate is designed to manipulate those narratives without most people ever realizing it.
rewritingripley.medium.com
