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The Star Wars actor, John Boyega, has opened up about the representation of black British culture on a global scale.  The 27-year-old from Peckham, South London, says he has met Americans who are not aware there are black people living in London, and believes the under-representation of the black British experience in popular culture fuels such ignorance.

“I’m black British and I’m from London.

And that in itself is something that the world doesn’t know about yet,’ he said this week.

‘I met American people – civilians of a first-world country – who were confused that there were black people in London.” “That’s why entertainment is so special, it’s a great chance to bring people together and open them up to things they haven’t seen before,” added Boyega.

Fresh from the controversy over losing a Star Wars script, Boyega made the comments in a Radio Times interview, where he discussed his future plans to create work about black life in Britain.

Although attached to one of the biggest film franchises in the world, Boyega has his heart set on doing more projects specifically about black Britain, partly as a result of having to explain to Americans that black Londoners exist Boyega says he started his own production company, UpperRoom Entertainment, to create more diversity in film and television.

In the past he has slammed the lack of representation in high fantasy series, including Game of Thrones, saying in 2017 to GQ, “There are no black people on Game of Thrones.

You don’t see one black person in Lord of the Rings.”  “I ain’t paying money to always see one type of person on screen.

Because you see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day.

Even if you’re a racist, you have to live with that,” he finished.

“We can ruffle up some feathers.” Clearly choosing roles to reflect this, next year he will be heading up a new BBC series, Small Axe, which has been directed by acclaimed filmmaker Steve McQueen and tells the story of London’s African-Caribbean community in the 70s.

John will play Leroy Logan, one of the first black Metropolitan Police officers, and he will star opposite Black Panther actress, Letitia Wright

Original Article Source: Press TV | Published on Thursday, 05 December 2019 14:37 (about 1574 days ago)