The ‘Star Wars’ fandom is in the middle of a major argument after the cancelation of ‘The Acolyte,’ a show that caused a lot of debate.
‘The Acolyte’ was canceled three weeks ago, but fans are still fighting about it online. Leslye Headland’s ‘The Acolyte’ had a low Rotten Tomatoes audience score of just 18%, mostly because of a review-bombing campaign. But now, the controversy has turned into a big argument between fans, with some demanding YouTube take action against certain channels.
On September 4, the Rewriting Ripley Pod shared a viral video pointing out that some YouTube channels were making things worse for the ‘Star Wars’ community. They claimed that these channels, like Nerdrotic, Ryan Kinel – RK Outpost, and Geeks + Gamers, harmed the community and the people involved in making Star Wars. They called on YouTube to demonetize these channels, saying, ‘Hate SHOULD NOT be a career path.’ They also asked YouTube for a formal response about what they would do to stop the harassment coming from these accounts.
Hello, @TeamYouTube, the Star Wars community would at the very least appreciate a formal response or update in regards to our well documented and pressing concerns about YouTubers pushing prolonged harassment on your platform. https://t.co/xd0L8Pt8KJ
— Rewriting Ripley Pod (@rewritingripley) September 5, 2024
Following this, the popular Star Wars YouTube channel Star Wars Explained (SWE) joined the campaign and encouraged YouTube to demonetize the mentioned channels. Mollie Damon, one of the hosts of SWE, posted an infographic online to support the idea that YouTube should do something to stop the spread of negative content.
YouTube replied quickly, saying that none of the videos from the accused channels broke their rules, so they wouldn’t be removed. This response didn’t satisfy the fans calling for action, as they were asking for demonetization, not just the removal of content.
The channels under fire celebrated this response, except for Star Wars Theory. He wasn’t mentioned by Rewriting Ripley Pod, but his name came up in the shared posts by SWE. He responded by posting a video and tweet, saying that trying to take someone’s channel down just because they didn’t like a certain kind of media was a ‘vile, disgusting act.’
Trying to deplatform anyone over not liking a form of media is the most vile disgusting act there is.
To coordinate an attack like this, taking the innocent and creative life’s work of someone and twist it to slander them to YouTube, calling for demonitizatipn, so that they…
— StarWarsTheory (@realswtheory) September 9, 2024
The Star Wars fandom is now split into two main groups: those who support SWE and those who support Star Wars Theory. SWE supporters believe channels like Nerdrotic and Star Wars Theory are creating harmful content by spreading negativity to generate views and money.
Some even say that SWE’s criticism of Star Wars Theory got personal, as it involved private messages and discussions about mental health.
On the other side, Star Wars Theory fans argue that demonetizing someone just because you disagree with them isn’t fair. They also claim that SWE is being hypocritical, as they claim to be positive creators but are now going after other YouTubers.
Star Wars Theory also shared messages from people who used to be friends with the SWE hosts, suggesting that the whole issue is based on jealousy.
