"The Last Jedi" and its deviation from the original spirit of the Star Wars characters, especially Luke, rubbed many hardcores the wrong way. Others were complaining about how the new characters were mostly female, nothing wrong with that. Laura Dern's Admiral Holdo and Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico were the aforementioned female leads, which even led a fan to editing his own 46 minute version of the "The Last Jedi," without Rose and Holdo in it.
The mean-spiritedness from 'fans' even had Marie Tran delete her Instagram. According to Star Wars Facts, Tran deleted her Instagram “due to months of harassment she has received for her character Rose in #TheLastJedi.”
There was no actual statement from the actress. That is until today, Tran spoke to the New York Times and had this to say about the controversy:
“This is what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world. This is what it is to be a woman in a society that has taught its daughters that we are worthy of love only if we are deemed attractive by its sons. This is the world I grew up in, but not the world I want to leave behind,” wrote Tran in the NYT op-ed.
She continued, “I want to live in a world where children of color don’t spend their entire adolescence wishing to be white. I want to live in a world where women are not subjected to scrutiny for their appearance, or their actions, or their general existence. I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings.”
The character of Rose was the most uninteresting part of "The Last Jedi." However, are some fans being racist in their hate towards her? Of course.
Tran was the first woman of color to have a leading role in the “Star Wars” films, and, as mentioned, even if her character was underwhelming, there is no doubt in my mind that some trolls are attacking her based on her race and gender.