Did John Boyega insinuate Kelly Marie Tran was weak for not handling harassment online?

Did we read that right?

In a recent Variety interview, the Star Wars star made some very odd statements about Star Wars fans and abuse culture online. His co-star Kelly Marie Tran was harassed, body-shamed and endured threats and racial slurs online to the point she left social media. Boyega who was first introduced to the Star Wars universe in 2015, endured his own negative and racist fandom experience with fans online. So it was a bit of a weird flex for him to choose the words he did to talk about online harassment from stans.

Variety asked:
There’s a sort of double edged sword there. You can get really great engagement. But then there’s what happened with Kelly [Marie Tran] about the small subset people who are very vocal and very negative, and having to navigate that.

Boyea, who has embraced fans online and engages heavily with fans online responded with this:

Being in this position, you just understand the masses, how the masses think, you know. Through social media, we get to engage, we get to have fun. But at the same time, for those who are not mentally strong, you are weak to believe in every single thing that you read. That’s, you know, it is what it is. I don’t know, for me anyway, when I see that [backlash], I’m like, well, that’s actually not true. But no, it is actually not true. So it’s kind of like [shrugs] it is what it is. But to engage, to connect with the fans who otherwise wouldn’t get a day to day experience, especially during things like the press tour, and behind the scenes stuff, is always good.

Women online, especially those who are more visible, experience more harassment than their male counterparts. Many actresses have had to disable their social media accounts because of toxic fans. Boyega was called racist by fans not too long ago for stating he was looking to date a gorgeous Black woman. He may have thicker skin for online harassment and abuse but it’s unfortunate that women are expected to turn the other cheek when it comes to online abuse. Boyega later took to his Twitter to apologize for his comments and explained he wasn’t talking about his co-star specifically.

In no way was I referring to Kelly when I made my comments although the interviewer mentioned her given the topic. I was really speaking from my own perspective throughout this franchise. Sometimes I’ve felt strong and sometimes I’ve felt weak. Badly worded though. I apologize.

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) December 12, 2019

My comments on Kelly specifically and online harassment remains the same via a tweet I put out a few years ago.

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) December 12, 2019