“We Got You”: Hollywood Figures Back John Boyega After Black Lives Matter Speech

John Boyega needn’t worry about getting more work in Hollywood.

“I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but fuck that,” the Star Wars actor told a crowd of thousands at a Black Lives Matter protest in London on Wednesday toward the end of an impassioned and powerful speech about racism.

The speech, made in solidarity with protests in the U.S. following the May 25 death of George Floyd but also highlighting the U.K.’s own issues regarding racism within its police force, saw Boyega applauded internationally, not least in the entertainment world. And the line about his career prompted several major figures step in with reassurances.

“We got you, John,” said Jordan Peele in a tweet widely shared, while Olivia Wilde messaged that she would be “honored to work” with the actor, adding, “We’ve got your back, John. Don’t hold back.”

We got you, John. https://t.co/oX7Rr52omx

— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) June 3, 2020

“You KNOW that as long as I’m allowed to keep working, I’ll always be begging to work with you. Deep love and respect, my friend,” tweeted J.J. Abrams, who directed Boyega on both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

“I would work with John Boyega and I urge other Non-Black creators to affirm that they have his back as well,” tweeted Matthew A. Cherry, an executive at Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and co-director of 2020’s Oscar-winning animation short, Hair Love.

“I would crawl through a barrel of broken glass to have John Boyega even so much as *glance* at one of my scripts,” said Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, while Jack Thorne, writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Netflix’s The Eddy, shared a similar sentiment. 

I would crawl through a barrel of broken glass to have John Boyega even so much as *glance* at one of my scripts. https://t.co/0bcLeldaEg

— Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker) June 3, 2020

“I have worked with John Boyega (on Woyzeck at the @oldvictheatre) and would cut my hand off to work with him again. A magnificent talent,” wrote Thorne.

“I can’t think of a single project that wouldn’t be elevated by the participation of John Boyega. Not one,” said Seth Grahame-Smith, producer of Stephen King’s It and screenwriter on The Lego Batman Movie.

Earlier this year, Boyega’s UpperRoom Productions banner signed a multiyear deal with Netflix for a slate of three films, two from Nigeria and one from Egypt. 

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