British actor John Boyega plays Stormtrooper Finn in the sure-to-be-smash movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which hits theaters Dec. 18. 

Although not at all relevant to his acting ability, Boyega is black.

(Racist) fans have taken to Twitter to voice their protests, creating a hashtag, #BoycottStarWarsVII.

They say the role should not be filled by a black actor because the original movies did not have any black actors in main roles (other than James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, but they don’t count him because he had a mask on for all of his on-screen time). 

A person’s race (or gender) does not determine his or her acting ability or ability to succeed in a certain role, and we believe this is a pointless, racist effort to protest the movie.

Star Wars is a huge franchise, and true fans will still go see it regardless of which actors are in which roles.

This is not the first time a movie remake has featured a cast that doesn’t look like the original: the remake of Ghostbusters features all female actresses in the lead roles, including Hollywood stars Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones; and the remake of Annie features Oscar-nominated 12-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis.

We applaud Hollywood and the movie industry for not sticking to old-fashioned ideas and breaking the mold of which actors and actresses can play which roles.