John Boyega On Speaking Out About ‘Star Wars’ Race Issues: ‘It’s A Conversation Worth Having, To Be Honest’

John Boyega doesn’t regret being honest about his “Star Wars” experience.

Last year, the actor stirred up a bit of controversy in an interview with British GQ, calling out the franchise for the way his character Finn was treated.

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“What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up,” he said at the time, as well as knocking the franchise for its treatment of Kelly Marie Tran’s character Rose.

In a new interview with NPR’s “Fresh Air”, the Boyega looks back on his choice to speak up about the racial issues surrounding the “Star Wars” franchise.

“I think I wanted to discuss the elephant in the room that is easily dismissed sometimes, easily seen as a selfish act, a way to put the attention on you,” he says.

“The characters are only as good as the moments that you give them. When we talk about, you know, Captain America and him kind of facing off Thanos and his army, when you talk about these moments that are given to characters, it’s only because these moments are written by somebody,” Boyega adds. “These moments are put in there on purpose to elevate characters.”

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The actor also describes other issues he faced, including receiving death threats over his casting in “The Force Awakens” and the marketing in China minimizing his presence on the poster.

“As you go along and all these issues pile on top,” Boyega says. “I just thought it was quite important to say something, so it’s not an elephant in the room. And I think that more conversations have even been bubbling with other actors now in different projects and franchises … things that they noticed as well. And it’s a conversation worth having, to be honest.”