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US Professor And Pundit Melissa Harris-Perry Slams Darth Vader As 'Racist'

Well, this is a fresh slant on the mythology of Darth Vader… it’s seems the lord of the dark side of the force’s character is racist.

Proffering this is Melissa Harris-Perry, US broadcaster, professor and pundit, who appeared on MSNBC this week and let her theory fly.

“The part where he was totally a black guy, whose name was basically James Earl Jones. While he was black he was terrible and bad, awful and used to cut off white men’s hand, and didn’t actually claim his son,” she said.

“But as soon as he claims his son, goes over to the good, takes off his mask and he is white.

“Yes, I have many, many feelings about that.”

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Oookay.

The remarks have caused some disquiet and not a little discussion amongst the US media.

Conservative political pundit Janine Turner addressed it on Fox Business News, saying: “Regarding Darth Vader, please.

“The Bible talks darkness and light. This is about evil and good. Darkness and light. This doesn’t have anything to do with anything else; this goes back to biblical times.”

That said, it’s not the first time that the series has been accused of cultural insensitivities.

Among the many things abhorrently wrong with Jar Jar Binks from the prequel series was the fact that many considered him to be a clumsy caricature of West Indian stereotypes.

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Watto, meanwhile, the trader from ‘The Phantom Menace’, has long been accused of perpetuating Jewish stereotypes too, while the Sand People from the first movie have been accused of embodying negative Arab stereotypes.

Still not sure about the Darth Vader business, though.

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Image credits: Lucasfilm/MSNBC