Gotham and Shameless star Cameron Monaghan is speaking out against those who have shamed him for having red hair, especially in Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order. You don’t see a lot of redheaded protagonists in video games or really any other form of entertainment, but you do in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. For those that haven’t played the new single-player, narrative-driven Star Wars game, in it, you play as Cal Kestis, who is brought to life by Cameron Monaghan, who also lends his likeness to the character, giving Kestis red hair. That said, apparently people don’t like playing as Monaghan’s Kestis, because mods have already begun to pop up changing the look of the character, including his hair color. As you would expect, the Santa Monica born actor took issue with this, and called out the mods publicly on Twitter.
“Gotta love that there are insecure dudes out there who can’t handle playing as a redhead,” said the 26-year-old actor on Twitter. “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?”
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The Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order actor continued:
“I mean that South Park episode was like 15 years ago. 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.”
As you may know, when Cal Kestis was first revealed as a character, there was some criticism of the protagonist, but not because of his hair color, but because of his skin tone and gender. That said, by the time the game released earlier this month, these specific criticisms had died out.
UPDATE: Monaghan has since deleted all the aforementioned tweets, noting he was simply having some fun and trying to point out that it’s okay 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
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.