Blackstormtrooper

2014hashtagclassic

Blackstormtrooper (#BlackStormtrooper) is the hashtag that broke out on November 28, 2014, after British actor John Boyega appeared in Imperial Stormtrooper armor during the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, kicking off a viral fight over race, casting, and Star Wars canon.

star warshashtag memesrace and identity memesculture war memesbackfire memes

Overview

Blackstormtrooper is the hashtag that broke out on November 28, 2014, when British actor John Boyega popped into frame in Imperial Stormtrooper armor at the opening of the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1. Boyega, then 22, showed up helmet-off, sweating, on what looked like Tatooine 2. The moment was designed to startle audiences. It startled a lot of people for the wrong reason.

Racist replies flooded YouTube comments and message boards within hours, with commenters accusing director J.J. Abrams of pandering to social justice warriors and dropping slurs in the trailer thread 3. #BlackStormtrooper then took off on Twitter mostly as a counter-move, with fans mocking the backlash and pointing out that the original Stormtroopers were clones of Jango Fett, played by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison of partial Maori descent 1.

The meme is really the whole cycle: the trailer shot, the racist backlash, the wave of #BlackStormtrooper defenses, Boyega's 'Get used to it. :)' Instagram clapback on November 29, and the news write-ups from CNN, The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor, and others that followed 2.

How It Spread

Reddit picked the story up fast. On November 28, user MatthewWilkes posted a screencap of Boyega titled 'We ain't found shit!' to /r/funny, a callback to the Black stormtrooper gag in Mel Brooks' 1987 Star Wars parody Spaceballs, and it pulled more than 4,200 votes at an 84% upvote rate in under a week 5. A separate thread in /r/blackladies got sharper, with one commenter writing 'Not even in a fictional universe are we allowed to exist to them' 3.

On November 29, IGN forum user Virus_698 opened a thread titled 'So why is there a black stormtrooper in the new Star Wars movie?' 5. The opening post explicitly complained the troopers were 'supposed be all white' and blamed political correctness 3. That same day, Boyega posted a short Instagram message thanking fans and dropping the line that would end up in every news write-up: 'To whom it may concern, Get used to it. :)' 4. Within a week the post pulled over 4,700 likes and 690 comments 5.

Supporters kept pushing on Twitter through the weekend. Writer Iain Macintosh tweeted, 'They'll accept an alien-filled galaxy powered by force but they're not having a black man in uniform?' USC professor Robert Hernandez added, '#BlackStormTrooper better not die first, or I am going to be pissed' 2. By Monday, major outlets were running pieces on the whole cycle. The Christian Science Monitor tied the argument directly to the Ferguson protests dominating US news that same week 3. The trailer itself had cleared 40 million views by then 4.

How to Use This Meme

#BlackStormtrooper was used mainly two ways. As a live hashtag in 2014 and 2015, people typically attached it to jokes about Star Wars canon, defenses of Boyega's casting, and dunks on racist commenters 2. Common conventions included pairing it with quips about aliens being fine but a Black actor being a problem, or riffing on Boyega's 'Get used to it' Instagram line 4. As a reference point, the term became shorthand for that exact cycle: a Black actor cast in a franchise role and a slice of fandom pushing back with 'it breaks the lore' logic 3.

Cultural Impact

Coverage went well beyond fan sites within days. The Christian Science Monitor treated the argument as a proxy for the Ferguson protests happening the same week and quoted Los Angeles-based activist and author Earl Ofari Hutchinson 3. CNN pointed out that Star Wars had featured very few prominent Black characters before Boyega, naming Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu and Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian 2. The Atlantic ran an explainer arguing that the 'all Stormtroopers must be white clones' complaint had never actually been true in Star Wars canon, since Jango Fett was played by Temuera Morrison, a New Zealand actor of partial Maori descent 1. James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader in the original trilogy, though the actor in the suit was white 2.

Frequently Asked Questions

Blackstormtrooper

2014hashtagclassic

Blackstormtrooper (#BlackStormtrooper) is the hashtag that broke out on November 28, 2014, after British actor John Boyega appeared in Imperial Stormtrooper armor during the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, kicking off a viral fight over race, casting, and Star Wars canon.

star wars hashtag memes race and identity memes culture war memes backfire memes

Overview

Blackstormtrooper is the hashtag that broke out on November 28, 2014, when British actor John Boyega popped into frame in Imperial Stormtrooper armor at the opening of the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1. Boyega, then 22, showed up helmet-off, sweating, on what looked like Tatooine 2. The moment was designed to startle audiences. It startled a lot of people for the wrong reason.

Racist replies flooded YouTube comments and message boards within hours, with commenters accusing director J.J. Abrams of pandering to social justice warriors and dropping slurs in the trailer thread 3. #BlackStormtrooper then took off on Twitter mostly as a counter-move, with fans mocking the backlash and pointing out that the original Stormtroopers were clones of Jango Fett, played by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison of partial Maori descent 1.

The meme is really the whole cycle: the trailer shot, the racist backlash, the wave of #BlackStormtrooper defenses, Boyega's 'Get used to it. :)' Instagram clapback on November 29, and the news write-ups from CNN, The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor, and others that followed 2.

How It Spread

Reddit picked the story up fast. On November 28, user MatthewWilkes posted a screencap of Boyega titled 'We ain't found shit!' to /r/funny, a callback to the Black stormtrooper gag in Mel Brooks' 1987 Star Wars parody Spaceballs, and it pulled more than 4,200 votes at an 84% upvote rate in under a week 5. A separate thread in /r/blackladies got sharper, with one commenter writing 'Not even in a fictional universe are we allowed to exist to them' 3.

On November 29, IGN forum user Virus_698 opened a thread titled 'So why is there a black stormtrooper in the new Star Wars movie?' 5. The opening post explicitly complained the troopers were 'supposed be all white' and blamed political correctness 3. That same day, Boyega posted a short Instagram message thanking fans and dropping the line that would end up in every news write-up: 'To whom it may concern, Get used to it. :)' 4. Within a week the post pulled over 4,700 likes and 690 comments 5.

Supporters kept pushing on Twitter through the weekend. Writer Iain Macintosh tweeted, 'They'll accept an alien-filled galaxy powered by force but they're not having a black man in uniform?' USC professor Robert Hernandez added, '#BlackStormTrooper better not die first, or I am going to be pissed' 2. By Monday, major outlets were running pieces on the whole cycle. The Christian Science Monitor tied the argument directly to the Ferguson protests dominating US news that same week 3. The trailer itself had cleared 40 million views by then 4.

How to Use This Meme

#BlackStormtrooper was used mainly two ways. As a live hashtag in 2014 and 2015, people typically attached it to jokes about Star Wars canon, defenses of Boyega's casting, and dunks on racist commenters 2. Common conventions included pairing it with quips about aliens being fine but a Black actor being a problem, or riffing on Boyega's 'Get used to it' Instagram line 4. As a reference point, the term became shorthand for that exact cycle: a Black actor cast in a franchise role and a slice of fandom pushing back with 'it breaks the lore' logic 3.

Cultural Impact

Coverage went well beyond fan sites within days. The Christian Science Monitor treated the argument as a proxy for the Ferguson protests happening the same week and quoted Los Angeles-based activist and author Earl Ofari Hutchinson 3. CNN pointed out that Star Wars had featured very few prominent Black characters before Boyega, naming Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu and Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian 2. The Atlantic ran an explainer arguing that the 'all Stormtroopers must be white clones' complaint had never actually been true in Star Wars canon, since Jango Fett was played by Temuera Morrison, a New Zealand actor of partial Maori descent 1. James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader in the original trilogy, though the actor in the suit was white 2.

Frequently Asked Questions