An open letter to fans and followers of SWAG 77 – Star Wars Actors Guild:
We recently wrote an open letter to AMC Theatres which caused a great disturbance in the Force. We ask you to please refrain from personal attacks of Mr. Campea. Not one person on Earth deserves cyberattacks. Individuals can voice their opinions respectfully as citizens of the United States of America. SWAG 77 is a business and only the executive leadership may speak for SWAG 77. We thank all of our loyal fans for defending us in this matter, but we urge who to remember to defend, and demand that if you do defend, to do it respectfully. Inappropriate comments will be removed from our page.
To AMC Theatres as well as fans and followers:
We have to apologize. We misspoke when quoting Mr. Campea, and it was not completely accurate. This fluke was accidental to which we are sorry. We thought our first post would receive no attention, but this does not change our stance on the matter:
AMC Theatre’s production of Mr. Campea’s show is an issue, because he made a very strong and bad hyperbole: “SERIOUSLY I wanted to kill someone” in the context of a major blockbuster movie, like Star Wars, over a disliked fictional character under a professional entertainment corporation production. That sets a very bad precedent! In his segment, he states his reasons to be, “They would become the representation of everything that is wrong with this movie” – targeting the fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie.
Giving all that is going on in the world (Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Aurora, CO; Sandy Hook Elementary; and Boston Marathon), it is hatred that targets and discriminates a specific and large group. In our case, a large branded demographic of Star Wars: The Clone Wars fans. A joke was make, and even if it is funny, Mr. Campea’s joke hurt us.
We feel his joke was no different from racism or sexism. Even if the anecdotal story was from 4 years ago, it was still put in the context of reasons why not to put a fictional character, “Ahsoka” in the new Star Wars: Episode VII movie.
The reason why we feel Mr Campea should be replaced is because we think AMC Theatres should use dedicated fans to speak on their behalf. The dedicated fans are exhibitors at conventions (Such as Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars Weekends, locals etc), interviewers for industry insiders, and supporters of the Star Wars brand, especially the love of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We indicated as “US” meaning the entire fandom.
There was no way of predicting the social media virality of the comments made on my page. I was unprepared for this massive discourse. If we knew Mr. Campea would take personal offense to our previous letter, we would have been more specific in it.
We encourage all Star Wars organizations to have representation in the Star Wars Universe: .whether Prequel Trilogy, Original Trilogy, Clone Wars fans; The Old Republic; and Expanded Universe. There are many more stories to tell in Star Wars and all deserve a voice.
If you would like to engage us more about this topic, you are welcomed to comment below, message the page or listen to the SWAG 77 Podcast this Saturday at 5 PM Pacific Time on Channel 1138.
Thank you,
and