Newton’s dress is a bold move of celebration considering the pushback Boyega's casting received from non-Black Star Wars fans in 2015. Using the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII, Twitter users claimed that adding Boyega to the film about a fictional universe was “anti-white propaganda.” In an interview with Page Six last month, Newtown said of the controversy: “J.J. Abrams really started the conversation by casting John Boyega. I know it was really down to J.J. Abrams that John had that prominent role and it really started it going…I’m just so grateful to him. He’s a single individual and what he’s doing in cinema is unprecedented. I wish it wasn’t unprecedented, but it is.”