- After months of sexist and racist harassment online, Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Rose Tico in the Star Wars films, wiped her Instagram account in June.
- At San Diego Comic Con Saturday, a #RallyforRose showed support for Tran, and addressed the toxic Star Wars fans who harassed her online.
- The rally was organized by the site Nerds of Color, which fights for inclusion in nerd culture.
Some Star Wars fans hate "The Last Jedi" with a passion, and in addition to campaigning to have the film remade, they have invested time in harassing its stars and director. But at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, some very different Star Wars fans fired back at the trolls in honor of Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Rose Tico.
In June, Tran deleted all Instagram posts from her account after months of sexist and racist harassment online (her page is still visible and public, but there are no posts). A few days later, Mark Hamill posted a picture with Tran on Twitter and wrote, "What's not to love? #GetALifeNerds."
At Comic-Con this past weekend, Rose Tico cosplayers rallied in support of Tran. The rally was organized by Nerds of Color, a site devoted to inclusion in nerd culture including films like Star Wars, superhero movies, and video games that is "not afraid to look at nerd/geek fandom with a culturally critical eye."
Nerds of Color named it the #RallyforRose. On Saturday, women showed up dressed as Rose or in tee shirts with Rose on them, inspired by the Barack Obama "Hope" poster.
Hamill showed his support for Tran and the rally on Twitter:
FINAL DAY at #SDCC- What's not to love?#RallyForRosehttps://t.co/IybgtS39hL
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 22, 2018
Here are some other images from #RallyforRose:
There’s a #rallyforrose at #ComicCon#sdcc to fight trolls and hate online. pic.twitter.com/jJsJIVG6yo
— Roger Cheng (@RogerWCheng) July 21, 2018
Beautiful Rose Tico cosplayers at the #RallyForRose organized by @TheNerdsofColor#RoseForHope#SDNOCpic.twitter.com/keUjOfMpK7
— Jennifer K. Stuller (@InkAmazon) July 21, 2018
There is no place online where it is acceptable to harass women. I stand with Rose #RallyforRose#Resistance#SWRepMatters#sdcc2018pic.twitter.com/1mmS27s7hH
— Phillip Kemp (@phil_kemp) July 21, 2018
Tran will appear as Rose again in the third film in the trilogy, which is expected to come out December 20, 2019.
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