John Boyega is revealing some of the ridiculousness he had to deal with while doing PR for Star Wars.
According to ComicBook.com, Boyega posted a video on Instagram telling how he was told in his PR training that he was coming off as too angry.
“Had to do PR training and was told I came off too angry, which honestly just made me more angry,” Boyega wrote on Instagram as a caption for a video showing him explaining more about how the PR training made him feel.
“‘Your eyes…you can read very angry. So let’s just lighten up that face, let those muscles be a little bit more lighter and then we can get more positivity from you, okay?'” he said, repeating what the PR trainer told him. “I’m just there like, ‘No.'” Interspersed in the video are moments where Boyega is having fun on set, refuting what the PR trainer felt.
View this post on InstagramHad to do PR training and was told I came off too angry, which honestly just made me more angry.
From what he says in the video, it could be read as the PR trainers insinuating that his Blackness made him appear threatening, something a lot of Black men and women have experienced in their professional lives. It’s a shame Boyega had to deal with such treatment, but if we look on the bright side, Boyega’s Star Wars compatriots seem to back him up. For instance, Joonas Suotamo, who plays Chewbacca in the films, wrote on Boyega’s page, “[fire] of ambition in the eyes bro. That’s what it is.”
READ MORE:
John Boyega Says He’s Been In Talks With Marvel About A Future Role — Here’s Who He Could Play
Photo: Disney
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