Simon Pegg on Star Wars fandom

Fandoms of all kinds have both types of fans—those that love the franchise and those that say they love the franchise but have a lot of negative things to say about the franchise. Now, that’s not to say that when a franchise puts out something objectively bad or hurtful, fans shouldn’t call it out. It’s when a franchise makes a story decision, or even a casting decision, that we can see fandoms get toxic.

As Variety has reported, Simon Pegg was recently on the SirusXM show Jim and Sam, and with his storied career with various franchises (Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Star Wars), the question was asked: “what franchise has the hardest fans to please?” His answer—Star Wars.

"To be honest—and as someone who kind of was, you know, kicked off about the prequels when they came out, the Star Wars fanbase really seems to be the most kind of toxic at the moment. I’m probably being very controversial to say that."

Simon Pegg’s Role in the Toxic Star Wars Fandom

Pegg noted that he was once one of those toxic Star Wars fans—he contributed to the backlash against Jar Jar Binks when The Phantom Menace was released. He’s previously talked about that time of his life and how he was ashamed for contributing to that backlash.

"I’ve apologized for the things I said about, you know, Jar Jar Binks. Because, of course, there was a fucking actor involved. He was getting a lot of flack and… it was a human being. And because it got a lot of hate, he suffered, you know, and I feel terrible about being part of that."

The Disney era of Star Wars has shown the toxicity at a height we’ve never seen before—the original trilogy existed in a time when you only shared Star Wars with your family and local community and the prequel trilogy was released at the birth of social media, so the fandom was just beginning to explode on the internet. Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico) left social media due to fan harassment after the release of The Last Jedi. John Boyega (Finn) has talked about the racism he’s experienced for being a Black lead in Star Wars. Most recently, Moses Ingram (Reva/Third Sister) dealt with racism with her role in Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The thing to keep in mind is that those on the toxic side of fandom are often the loudest. With any luck, they’ll see their mistakes, as Simon Pegg did, and look to atone for the contributions to the toxicity. But it’s up to us, the fans who love Star Wars, or any other franchise, to shout even louder when we see or hear the bad.

And it’s totally okay to not like a new film, TV show, book, or anything else that comes from these franchises we love—the things we do like still exist, they haven’t been erased. So, be critical if you must, but never cross that line to hate—we all know where that leads.

What do you think about what Simon Pegg said? Are Star Wars fans the hardest to please? Sound off in the comments below and let us know!