Jamaal Bowman Won’t Watch New ‘Star Wars’ Without Black Lead Jedi

The Walt Disney Company didn’t exactly do the best job with the “Star Wars” franchise in its most recent theatrical releases. Its last release of the trilogy was poorly reviewed and saw prolific declines at the box office from the previous films. 

Suffice to say, they have a lot of problems to work out as they move towards another inevitable trilogy. And in fact, Deadline reported that a new set of films is under development at Lucasfilm right now, with Simon Kinberg, creator of the “Star Wars: Rebels” series. 

But the biggest problem they face in development might be trying to avoid upsetting Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a former squad member whose antics, comments and extremism led him to a primary loss earlier in 2024. Seriously. Bowman took to X on Tuesday evening to express his demands for the “Star Wars” franchise, and they are predictably racist, absurd, and historically ignorant.

“If the lead Jedi is not a Black man I ain’t messing with y’all,” Bowman posted. “Yall not about to make 12 Star Wars and have all white leads for all 12. Y’all wilding with that and I hate to say I would not watch and will spend the rest of my days denouncing this franchise that I have loved forever. The new Jedi order better be multicultural with a Black super powerful lead. We ain’t playing yall!”

ORLANDO – Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas attend the 40 Years of Star Wars panel during the 2017 Star Wars Celebrationat Orange County Convention Center on April 13, 2017.  (Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images for Disney)

Will Disney Cave To Jamaal Bowman On ‘Star Wars?’

Bowman exemplifies why corporations should never try to placate progressives in entertainment. The last “Star Wars” trilogy starred Daisy Ridley as “Rey,” a black man, John Boyega as “Finn,” and Oscar Isaac, who was born in Guatemala, as “Poe.” 

Not one of the three leads was a white man, with Ridley the only white main character. Apparently, that’s not enough for Bowman, who is now demanding that a black man be the lead Jedi, or he’ll denounce the franchise entirely.

Not to mention that the Jedi order is, and always has been “multicultural.” Mace Windu in the prequel trilogy was played by Samuel L. Jackson. Many of the other Jedi are not even human, though apparently, multi-species doesn’t count as multicultural either.

Lando Calrissian is one of the most beloved characters in the “Star Wars” universe, also played by a black man.

The biggest issue though, is that casting decisions should be made based on fit, talent, and the story itself. If that means the lead Jedi is black, fantastic. If not, that’s also fantastic. Using this kind of racial blackmail is ridiculous and offensive. As well as creating a circumstance where the actor involved may always wonder if their casting was an act of patronizing affirmative action and not talent.

Guess Jamaal Bowman wouldn’t care.