One of Donald Trump‘s most vocal supporters has apparently been banned from Twitter after posting anti-Semitic comments about Disney’s upcoming Star Wars film, Rogue One.
Jared Wyand was part of an effort by Trump stans to #BoycottStarWars over the film’s alleged anti-Trump bias, as well as comments made by a pair of Rogue One writers. But it seems he took the argument too far, escalating from allegations of bias to allegations of a Jewish media conspiracy and “white genocide”:
https://twitter.com/thebordoto/status/807260608043384832
A Trump fansite called Magafeed lamented the suspension of Wyand’s account, writing, “Jared joins a list of well respected deplorables, including Ricky Vaughn and Milo [Yiannopoulos], who have been banned by Twitter.”
According to Magafeed—which is nakedly biased and ought to be taken with a grain of salt—Wyand wasn’t banned for his antisemitic Star Wars tweet. The site claims he was punished for his most recent tweet, expressing support for Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right politician who was just convicted of inciting racial discrimination.
Twitter hasn’t commented on the ban, so it’s impossible to say which of Wyand’s remarks against Muslims and Jews finally resulted in the suspension of his account.
Now a #FreeJared campaign has sprung up among Twitter’s self-identified deplorables:
Technocratic Global Elites have permanently banned one of our greatest Trump supporters -> @JaredWyand
— Baked Alaska (@bakedalaska) December 9, 2016
This must not stand. #FreeJared pic.twitter.com/qG7NSgNlLj
Previous campaigns to reinstate alt-right accounts, notably #FreeMilo, have failed to sway Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Star Wars Boycott, which kicked off after screenwriter Chris Weitz declared that Star Wars was “against hate,” continues.
https://twitter.com/chrisweitz/status/797138496716566528
Weitz also tweeted, and later deleted, “Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization.” Fellow Rogue One writer Gary Whitta added, “Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.”
This interpretation of the Star Wars legend didn’t sit well with the Trump-supporting White Genocide crowd, who interpreted it as an attack on Trump and on white people. In a classic internet game of telephone, the boycotters turned these comments about the overarching series into allegations that Rogue One would have explicitly anti-Trump content.
https://twitter.com/lorettatheprole/status/807216102631735297
https://twitter.com/billslater/status/807223913960865792
The last starwars was soo bad and boring that I had already decided to #Dumpstarwars and with my pro-trump stand, it even feels good!
— Yumm Shanthi 🇺🇸 (@yumm_shanthi) December 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/Julia_Gulia_1/status/807290343498596352
As some are pointing out, though, boycotting one of the most popular movie franchises of all time for being against white supremacy doesn’t exactly put the boycotters in a positive light:
If Star Wars — an obvious allegory about Nazism — feels like an attack on your candidate, the problem isn’t with Star Wars… #DumpStarWars
— David Slack (@slack2thefuture) December 9, 2016
They’re not denying Trump is the Empire, they’re just saying the Empire was good.
https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/807300215405481988