Riz Ahmed was forced to cancel his appearance at “Star Wars Celebration” this spring, and now he’s revealing the reason why.
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The “Rogue One” actor appeared on a panel at the CAA Amplify leadership summit this week. While speaking about issues of Islamophobia, Ahmed said that he didn’t make it to the big “Star Wars” fan event because he was stopped by airport security.
“He can win a Peabody,” the actor said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, referring to fellow panellist Hasan Minhaj. “I can win an Emmy, Ibtihaj Muhammad can go to the Olympics, but some of these obstacles are systemic and we can’t really face them alone. We need your help. I’m basically here to ask for your help, because it’s really scary to be a Muslim right now, super scary.
“I’ve often wondered, Is this going to be the year when they round us up, if this is going to be the year they put Trump’s registry into action. If this is going to be the year they ship us all off.”
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Back in April, “Star Wars Celebration” announced last minute that their events with Riz Ahmed were being cancelled, but did not give further details at the time.
Speaking about how he generally gets by in Hollywood, Ahmed said, “How I do what I do is because like all of you here, I’m a code-switcher. We all know how to change the way we talk, the way we dress, the way we walk as we enter one room or another. We all know how to navigate terrain that isn’t of our own making. That’s how I can do it, but that’s not why I do what I do. The why is because I don’t want to have to code-switch anymore.”
