In case you weren’t already aware, Gotham and Shameless star Cameron Monaghan stars in the recently released video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as Cal Kestis, a former Jedi trainee that gets tangled up with the Empire in the years following Order 66. But Monaghan and his character share more than just a voice as Kestis is clearly modeled after him, and that includes the red hair. Which is part of how Monaghan got into a bit of a sticky situation on Twitter yesterday.
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The short version is, folks have created mods for the popular video game already, and one of them happens to significantly alter Kestis’ hair — specifically, it removes the red in favor of a darker brown/black. This isn’t terribly uncommon, and one of the most popular genre of gaming mods has to do with altering appearances. Monaghan happened to catch people talking about such a mod online, and responded with some fairly heated tweets about how it was all about “ginger hate” and so on.
“Gotta love that there are insecure dudes out there who can’t handle playing as a redhead,” the 26-year-old actor tweeted. “Seriously, ginger hate is still a thing? We’ve gotta be one of the only groups left where it’s not taboo to shit on us for being born or looking a certain way, right?”
“I mean that South Park episode was like 15 years ago,” he continued. “The joke is pretty dated. And even at the time, the whole joke was about how arbitrarily deeming a group of people as ‘other’ is stupid and ridiculous. Not that I care. I’m the lead in a freaking Star Wars game and having a great career and great time! But I do genuinely find the weird superiority complex of these insecure men making comments about my appearance kinda… amusing? Like, are they mad because their girlfriends have a crush on me or something? Just kidding, we know they don’t have girlfriends.”
Monaghan later deleted the tweets, claiming that he was simply having some fun and trying to point out that it’s OK to be different.
Mannnnn Twitter really canโt take a lighthearted joke.
People who look different from the norm are awesome. Redheads are awesome. If someone tells you you arenโt great because you are different from whatever is considered โstandardโ, just know you rock. The end.
โ Cameron Monaghan (@cameronmonaghan) November 27, 2019
But the Internet has since taken hold of his comments, and it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll be giving them up at any point soon. On the one hand, there seems to be a lot of support for Monaghan (it must be weird to see a character so intrinsically based on yourself be altered), but on the other, there’s plenty of folks confused or flabbergasted by his response as well.
Keep reading to check out what folks are saying online!
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the latest and greatest Star Wars game right here.
Screw the haters
@cameronmonaghan, can I just say, fuck the weak hair haters. I for one am fired the hell up to finally play as a canon ginger Jedi. Growing up, I didn’t have a ton of self respect due to my hair (among many other things), but great characters like Cal make it easier to be proud.
โ Ian S. Maxwell (@eBoneSteak) November 27, 2019
Some folks love red hair, actually
We love you AND your red hair!!! Keep killing it! @cameronmonaghanhttps://t.co/B80OLA0Tbd
โ JEN๐ (@jenlap621) November 27, 2019
And some folks just love Cameron Monaghan
Love you @cameronmonaghan and thank you! *YOU* rock! ๐๐๐ https://t.co/N9kEQyl7hb
โ ๐โง๏ฝฅ๏พ: *โง๏ฝฅ๏พโพ แดฟแตหขแต โฝ ๏พโง*:๏ฝฅ๏พโง (@cosmicnyxx) November 27, 2019
Plus, you know what haters are going to do
Haters gonna hate, aight? pic.twitter.com/naEsjJmv1h
โ Rom He (@romanheichinger) November 27, 2019
Done gingers proud
A few people are doing a bit of #gingerhate but one person you’ve made proud is my step son who’s ginger and when I got #StarWarsJediFallenOrder he said how cool it is to have a ginger character ๐ so thanks @cameronmonaghan you’ve done the gingers proud
โ Gareth Murray (@GarethMurray15) November 27, 2019
Cal Kestis is a good character too
Hey just wanted to say you did great in Fallen Order. Cal is a very enjoyable character to play, thank you
โ Dylan (@Dylan_Jacobsen) November 27, 2019
But then again, there’s a whole thing in Star Wars about anger…
Careful, Cal. Roasting is a path to the dark side. pic.twitter.com/3ApilFi1dv
โ Jay Ingram (@JayKingIngram) November 26, 2019
