John Boyega faced immediate controversy this weekend following his Screen Nation Awards acceptance speech, a controversy the Star Wars: The Force Awakens star is now putting to rest. "To complain about what is going on is not going to benefit us," Boyega said when accepting the award for Best Male Performance on Saturday, according toBuzzFeed News. "It is not. Be the change you want to be. Be the change. And continue and focus."
Though brief in his reference to the ongoing diversity crisis currently facing Hollywood, Boyega quickly found himself at the receiving end of some tweeted disapproval, sampled below:
Shortly after the speech started making waves across Twitter, Boyega apologized for the confusion surrounding his remarks while clarifying his intentions. "I am not saying that complaints are invalid or should not be heard," Boyega tweeted. "I am saying that words without action can’t help right now."
As for the chance of scoring additional awards as Finn within the limitless cinematic possibilities of the Star Wars franchise, Boyega will have the opportunity to do exactly that in the currently untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII. "[We're] just starting work on Star Wars VIII, the next film, so I'm back to keeping secrets again," Boyega toldVogue in January. "It's great. Much darker, but we're very excited."
