IGN writer Isaiah D. Colbert took a swing at Star Wars fans claiming they “hate black people” following The Acolyte trailer receiving a massive amount of dislikes upon its release.
Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
X account DiscussingFilm reported earlier this week that The Acolyte trailer had more dislikes than likes on YouTube with the dislikes accounting for 55% of the reactions and totaling 162,921 compared to just 135,711 likes.
Colbert reacted to the post by denigrating Star Wars fans and claiming they “hate black people.” He wrote, “Star Wars ‘fans’ want the same trough of derivative storytelling that Lusasfilm always doles out instead of original narratives. Also, they hate Black people.”
Isaiah D. Colbert on X
As for why people are disliking the trailer, looking at some of the top comments reveals it has nothing to do with Star Wars fans hating black people. In fact, many of the top comments are mocking the trailer’s dialogue, “Close your eyes. Your eyes can deceive you. We must not trust them. Tell me what comes into your mind.”
The top comment reads, “‘What do you see?’ The comment section getting turned off.” Another states, “Plot twist: this series is a Star Wars Jedi training simulator in the Matrix.”
Still another reads, “‘Your eyes could deceive you, you must not trust them’ Dang, seconds into the trailer and they are already gaslighting. LOL.”
Top comments from The Acolyte trailer on YouTube
As noted above, numerous comments paraphrase the opening line and make pop culture references or mock Star Wars.
One states, “‘Close your eyes, what do you see?’ ‘I see my mother researching spiders in the Amazon before she died.'” Another says, “‘Close your eyes.’ Alien: ‘I can’t.'”
A third reads, “‘Close your eyes, what do you see?’ ‘I see a particular episode of South Park…'”
Top comments from The Acolyte trailer on YouTube
One criticized the fact that Harvey Weinstein’s personal assistant, Leslye Headland, was chosen to showrun the show, “I like the part where they decide Harvey W’s PA must have good judgement and be a really nice person.
Another wrote, “‘close your eyes’ Shark: I’ll die.” One made a reference to The Lord of the Rings, “‘Close your eyes, what do you see?’ ‘The Uruks turn northeast! They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!'”
A fourth states, “‘close your eyes, what do you see?’ ‘I see George Lucas sobbing in a tub of money.'”
Top comments from The Acolyte trailer on YouTube
The trend with paraphrasing the trailer continued, “‘Close your eyes, what do you see.’ ‘Empty chairs and canceled subscriptions… Harvey’s secretary blaming the fans…'”
“‘Close your eyes… what do you see?’ ‘Everybody was Kung Fu fighting. Those kicks were fast as lightning,'” states another.
A third reads, “‘Close your eyes, what do you see?’ ‘I see that somehow palpatine returned.'”
Top comments from The Acolyte trailer on YouTube
Clearly, these top comments have nothing to do with black people at all, and there are dozens more like them. It seems people are unimpressed by the trailer and the current creative direction that Lucasfilm has taken Star Wars since the sequel trilogy. It has nothing to do with race at all.
(L-R): Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of Colbert’s assertion?
This is all victim blacks like Colbert can do – blame racism. Glad that I haven’t visited IGN in years. On the bright side of things those Acolyte comments are fire.