Star Wars author brilliantly shuts down fans unhappy over gay character
By Will Stroude
There was good news for Star Wars fans last week, as it was revealed that new novel Aftermath introduces a major new gay character into the official series canon – but sadly, some weren’t so impressed by the depiction of sexual diversity in a universe inhabited by everything from Wookies to Jabba the Hut to (shudder) Jar Jar Binks…
Bridging the gap between The Return of the Jedi and upcoming instalment The Force Awakens, the book features a prominent gay character named Sinjir Rath Velus, an Imperial soldier who decides to join the Rebel Alliance following the Battle of Endor. While fan reaction has mainly been positive, author Chuck Wendig has taken brilliantly pointed aim at the homophobes who’ve reared their ugly heads over Sinjir’s sexuality.
In a recent blog post, Wendig drew attention to an article written by a conservative radio host who accuses him of “jumping on the Caitlyn Jenner bandwagon”, and pulled no punches in his brilliantly inspired response…
“And if you’re upset because I put gay characters and a gay protagonist in the book, I got nothing for you. Sorry, you squawking saurian — meteor’s coming. And it’s a fabulously gay Nyan Cat meteor with a rainbow trailing behind it and your mode of thought will be extinct. You’re not the Rebel Alliance. You’re not the good guys. You’re the f–king Empire, man. You’re the shitty, oppressive, totalitarian Empire. If you can imagine a world where Luke Skywalker would be irritated that there were gay people around him, you completely missed the point of Star Wars. It’s like trying to picture Jesus kicking lepers in the throat instead of curing them. Stop being the Empire. Join the Rebel Alliance. We have love and inclusion and great music and cute droids.”
More stories:Sneak peek: One Direction’s Liam Payne is Attitude’s new cover guyTom Hardy has “no shame” over his raunchy old MySpace photos