The Washington Post is getting slammed over its claim that death threats directed towards Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams by “Reylos”, a segment of the Star Wars fanbase that supports a romantic relationship between the characters Rey and Kylo Ren, were simply a “hoax.”
The Washington Post, made the claim in an article titled “The latest Star Wars film satisfies the right-wing. Will the left start trolling?” which contains the line: “A Fandom Menace account manufactured a hoax claiming “Reylos” were sending death threats to the TROS [The Rise of Skywalker] director.”
The line is referring to the Dataracer Twitter account, which posted screenshots of what it described as Reylo fans “sending death threats & harassment to JJ Abrams, cast members, & Lucasfilm employees” in response to the on-screen death of the Kylo Ren character in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Reylo fans are outraged that Kylo Ren dies in Rise of Skywalker.
They're sending death threats & harassment to JJ Abrams, cast members, & Lucasfilm employees.
The new fanbase Lucasfilm has catered to is proving they're the true "toxic fans" in Star Wars. pic.twitter.com/mFMG49TRdw
After Dataracer posted the screenshots and they were referenced in a BuzzFeed article, a Twitter user responded and suggested that some of these death threats didn't come from Reylos.
@broderick Hey, Ryan! Sorry to bother you publicly about this, but I was made aware of an article you wrote recently about the Star Wars fandom? I haven't read it all yet. Someone brought it to my attention because of a small fraction of it: pic.twitter.com/6K7E5bU3R1
However, as Dataracer points out, a handful of these tweets not coming from Reylos isn't evidence of the entire thing being a hoax.
The Washington Post is defending Reylo's saying their harassment of JJ Abrams was a "Hoax created by the alt-right Fandom Menace."
Woke SW fandom was telling the Reylos to stop sending threats & harassment to JJ after TROS premiered.
This is a 100% lie from The Washington Post. https://t.co/Cbd2vbQaZw pic.twitter.com/26Z754AkMf
“The Washington Post is defending Reylo's saying their harassment of JJ Abrams was a “Hoax created by the alt-right Fandom Menace.”
Woke SW fandom was telling the Reylos to stop sending threats & harassment to JJ after TROS premiered.
This is a 100% lie from The Washington Post.”
Dataracer showed that many other Star Wars fans, including Daniel José Older, author of the Star Wars novel Last Shot, have called out Reylos for harassment.
So tell me, Reylos, honest question: why do you pile on so hard? I know it's not just me, it's anyone who doesn't agree. People have been getting cursed out on my @s. What is it that makes you feel like being heavy in someone's mentions makes this a better convo or makes sense?
Additionally, some Star Wars fans have documented what appear to be admissions of Reylos tweeting death threats to the actors in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
https://twitter.com/saltandrockets/status/1211675534452654080
….I don't know what to say but homegirl needs a reality check. Also the fact that she was later sending death threats to the costars! Also I feel like I saw a lot of people's like that feelings on his tag on tumblr. I want to note that I was sad too but still. pic.twitter.com/o8ltipdHMM
Star Wars actor John Boyega was also recently harassed by Reylos after he made a joke about his character being the one “who eventually lays the pipe” with Rey.
Twitter users are shocked that the Washington Post article was actually published and see it as another sign of the eroding credibility of the legacy mainstream media, and a continued attempt to sew division within the community.
I still can't believe that article was published.
What does it say that I have more trust in certain anonymous Twitter accounts (such as yours) than I do in the actual mainstream media? To be fair, that's based 100% on direct experience. But point is: WTF is happening to America?https://t.co/vCARRou7mU
This article was unbelievably stupid, even by the @washingtonpost ‘s standards. The writer had no idea of what they were talking about, but tried to sound as if they did. Nothing but a misrepresentation of the situation. Spreading libelous misinformation about #TheFandomMenace.
@bethany_lacina is one of the poorest "journalists" I've ever seen. No research whatsoever for her article. If there was such a thing as a Reverse-Pulitzer Prize she would be the front-runner to receive it.
This article is the latest of several recent controversies that have plagued Star Wars: The Rise of The Skywalker and the most recent Star Wars trilogy.
The Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has been stuck at 86% since passing 6,231 reviews which has raised suspicion among many fans. And Wikipedia's article on this latest Star Wars trilogy shows that the site is using questionable sources to present this divisive series of movies as being “the best of the franchise.”
