Film and TV creators including Oscar winner Jordan Peele have assured John Boyega that his career is far from over following his speech at a Black Lives Matter protest.
In his rousing address - which you can watch in full above - Boyega, 28, told the thousands-strong crowd at London’s Hyde Park: “I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this [speaking out], but f*** that.”
“Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process,” he continued. “We don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones.”
His speech was shared thousands of times online and in the wake of his comments, a series of huge stars have shared their support.
Retweeting pictures of Boyega at the protest, Peele wrote: “We got you, John.”
Director Olivia Wilde was also among those to respond, writing: “Absolutely. I would be honoured to work with @JohnBoyega and can only hope to have the chance. We’ve got your back, John. Don’t hold back.”
Filmmaker Matthew A Cherry, who won an Academy Award for his short film Hair Love back in February, said: “I would work with John Boyega and I urge other Non-Black creators to affirm that they have his back as well.”
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker quoted Cherry’s post, adding: “I would crawl through a barrel of broken glass to have John Boyega even so much as *glance* at one of my scripts.”
Stage and screenwriter Jack Thorne said: “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.”
JJ Abrams, who took charge of the Star Wars trilogy which saw Boyega in his breakthrough role as Finn, added: "You KNOW that as long as I’m allowed to keep working, I’ll always be begging to work with you. Deep respect and love, my friend."
Mark Hamill also paid tribute to the actor’s emotional stand, tweeting: “Never been more proud of you, John.”
After urging his fellow demonstrators to "keep this as peaceful as possible," Boyega marched alongside everyone to Whitehall.
Boyega has frequently used his platform to highlight injustices and call for racial inequality.
Earlier this week, he said he did not want to “work in fear” when in the US, as he addressed the unrest spreading across the States and elsewhere.
The last fortnight has seen protests take place in cities across the world after the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in police custody after an officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes.
Derek Chauvin, who has since been dismissed by the police force, has been charged with second-degree murder while three other officials who were at the scene have also been charged in relation to the death.
Additional reporting by Press Association
