Star Wars trolls have been harassing Rian Johnson for months since The Last Jedi opened in late December. The director’s Star Wars sequel earned backlash from certain sections of the fandom for making drastic changes to the narrative. On June 14, a deeply misguided subsection of Star Wars fans launched an online pledge to have Johnson’s film The Last Jedi remade. Not even one week later, on June 20, Twitter user @RMTheLastJedi (Remake The Last Jedi) tweeted that they had the funds to remake the film entirely.
More and more people began to take notice, and several ridiculed the account and the campaign’s website, where people can pledge a certain amount of money “to have your voice heard”. The campaign was heavily mocked on Twitter on Thursday, and the film’s director, Rian Johnson, joined in as well. Johnson quoted a tweet from the campaign on Thursday and added, “Please please please please pleeeeeeeaaaase please actually happen please please please please please,” with numerous praying emojis.
please please please please pleeeeeeeaaaase please actually happen please please please please please 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 https://t.co/mNpSjgovax
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) June 21, 2018
Even Seth Rogen had a back-and-forth with the campaign on Twitter on Thursday. Rogen at one point asked how it got investors when it had nothing to show, to which the campaign responded, “It’s a pretty solid brand”. But Frank Oz, who voices Yoda in the Star Wars films, was less than amused.
Really? Really? Really? Not raising money for helping refugees, wounded soldiers, mental health, disabled police & firefighters, Lupus research, battered women, finding missing children, hunger, and on and on and on? You're instead raising money to remake a movie? Really? Really? https://t.co/uzr4WTJ9hQ
— Frank Oz (@TheFrankOzJam) June 21, 2018
It’s the latest step made by a cabal of awful Star Wars fans, who have petitioned to have The Last Jedi thrown out of the Star Wars canon. While The Last Jedi made over $1 billion worldwide and was a critical hit, a vocal subset of Star Wars fans and internet trolls have voiced their disdain for the movie since its release in December, even driving stars like Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran off social media after being harassed.
Sources: Twitter (various)