It's now 2020 and John Boyega has completely run out of fucks to give. The Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker actor spent them all fighting with fans of Rey (Daisy Ridley) -- and, specifically, Rey and Kylo (Adam Driver) -- at the end of 2019. Boyega (Finn) got himself and "Reylos" trending after squabbles on two fronts.
First, John Boyega made a "lays the pipe" joke about sex with Rey that struck some fans as sexist or at least insensitive; not only did he defend that joke, he further upset Reylo fans who want Rey and Kylo to be together by pointing out the violence of the Reylo "romance" across the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
SPOILERS AHEAD from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
It all started with a fan joking on social media that, now that Kylo Ren is dead after his one kiss with Rey at the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Finn can date Rey. Some fans even thought Finn wanted to tell Rey he loved her, although that was not the thing he kept trying to get out. John Boyega responded to the fan with a laying pipe joke:
Fan: My boy after realizing Kylo died so he can date Rey.John Boyega: It's not about who she kisses but who eventually lays the pipe. You are a genius.
A lot of fans replied to John Boyega with surprise that he would make such a crude and insensitive joke about Rey, who is played by his friend Daisy Ridley. But he fought back, and most of the time his arguments took issue with how seriously fans taken this fictional world and the fictional characters:
He also replied to other fans who didn't care for the joke; some of those fans brought up Urban Dictionary definitions of laying pipe, including "fucking the hell out of a girl."
John Boyega replied to such tweets again:
I will say it 500000 times. Two consenting adults can lay down whatever the hell they want ya sensitive!
After a while, the second fight started, based on John Boyega's selection of photos, sarcastically showing Kylo and Ren's "romance" with violent images of their clashes:
Some Star Wars fans agreed that Reylo is problematic from all the violence, while others felt like John Boyega was trying to distract from his crude Rey joke. Sometimes, the fights got nasty:
Other Star Wars fans supported John Boyega, in part because they don't like Reylo fans and in some cases just because they find it refreshing when actors don't back down. Since Boyega is done with Star Wars, maybe he feels more free to speak out. Same with Oscar Isaac, who has been more vocal than ever about wishing Finn and Poe had gotten their own romance. Some Star Wars fans just laughed at how much Boyega got in Reylo fans' heads. He keeps baiting them and they respond.
However, some of these Rey fans who look up to John Boyega are very young, and others just love Rey and Kylo together, which isn't exactly a sin. Mocking them seems cheap and easy. It's nothing to be proud of to take shots at people whose crime is to care too much and feel heartbroken by how the Reylo story ended in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It's not like other Star Wars fans haven't spent plenty of time airing their own grievances for years now.
Like all actors in major franchises, John Boyega is held to a high standard because he's seen as a hero by fans of all ages. But, as he pointed out, Star Wars is fiction not a documentary. It's not worth taking too seriously, and if Boyega wants to make crude jokes and you don't like them? Just unfollow him.
