The acolyte Could have been canceled, but the Star Wars Fandom is still divided over the show — and now the controversy has erupted into a full-on social media civil war. Helmed by showrunner Leslie Headland, The acolyte quickly proved to be one of the most controversial television shows in the franchise’s history; A review-bombarding campaign against The acolyte leading to a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of (at time of writing) just 18 percent. Surprisingly, however, the show remains controversial even now, three weeks after its cancellation.
On September 4, the Rewriting replay pod Released a viral video that points to some Star Wars YouTube accounts which, they argued, have “Jeopardize the safety of our community and the creatives we love for too long.“
The Star Wars Explained team – popular YouTubers and podcasters in the fandom – responded to this by running a campaign petitioning YouTube to demonetize some of ​​the accounts. Molly DamonOne of SWE’s co-hosts shared the following infographic from another source:
YouTube quickly responded with confirmation None of the involved videos breached their terms of serviceand that they will not be taken away; It didn’t exactly satisfy campaigners, who called for demonetisation rather than removal of content. Naturally, the YouTubers whose accounts were saved celebrated their clear vindication – with the exception of Star Wars Theory. Although this popular (and highly critical) YouTuber was not called out by Rewriting Replay Pod, he was name-dropped in the pages shared by SWE. He answered with a YouTube video And a tweet.
The Star Wars fandom is taking sides
The Star Wars Fandom is now dividing along almost tribal lines; Star Wars Explained vs. Star Wars Theory. Supporters of SWE argue that accounts such as Nerdotic and Star Wars Theory are a negative force in the fandom, selling anger and negativity because they know it will generate views and revenue. They go on to point out that the Star Wars Theory counter video includes personal messages from the SWE team and discussions of mental health, making it a very personal attack.
Supporters of the Star Wars theory, meanwhile, argue that the very principle of demonetizing accounts with which you disagree is wrong. They go on to point to SWE’s desire to be a positive voice in the community, and insist that they are hypocrites for them in general “against” other creators. More recent claims claim that the SWE YouTubers are actually motivated by jealousy.
It is, quite frankly, a mess. What makes this particularly interesting, however, is that it is happening in a very specific political context; The topic of social media moderation (some would say censorship) is a live issue in many countries, including the United States and UK. Star Wars Controversy is simply mirroring the real-world debate.