The ‘Star Wars’ actor, John Boyega has criticized the lack of diversity in the hit HBO series Game Of Thrones for its lack of black characters.
Speaking up in an interview with GQ, Boyega has now criticised the HBO hit series and other successful franchises for not representing people of different backgrounds.
“There are no black people in Game Of Thrones,” he said. “You don’t see one black person in Lord Of The Rings. I ain’t paying money to always see one type of person on-screen.”
He added: “You see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day. Even if you’re a racist, you have to live with that. We can ruffle up some feathers.”
This emphatic stance comes after he revealed that he used to be frequently stopped for “random checks” at the airport every time he flew to America, before he found fame as Finn in 2015’s The Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“I used to fly back and forth when I was hustling and auditioning for things in LA,” he told The Evening Standard.
“I’d get cheap flights and stay there for two weeks or whatever. And every time I was getting these random checks. Every. Single. Time. I wish I remembered the airline because I called them out on it, too. Like, ‘This stuff ain’t right’. They said it was a problem Stateside, they gave me a letter and it stopped. But before that it was consistent.”
He added: “I understand that [these things] are for our safety but when you fly a lot and it happens three or four times there’s an element of, ‘Okay, I’m still not a terrorist’.”
Boyega will reprise his role as Finn in this year’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He recently shared an Instagram post revealing that he had found the film’s lingo “frustrating”.
The film, which will feature a posthumous appearance from Carrie Fisher, is set for release on December 15. Disney CEO Bob Iger has already seen the film and called it “a great next chapter in the iconic Skywalker family saga”.