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<\/a>The writers said it was ‘completely false’ that Rogue One scenes had been re-shot after the election<\/p><\/div>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
Supporters of Donald Trump are urging a boycott of the Star Wars film, Rogue One, due for US release next week.<\/strong><\/p>\n The campaign began with a series of tweets from activist Jack Posobiec, who claimed the writers changed the film to add scenes linking Mr Trump to racism.<\/p>\n Screenwriter Chris Weitz said that this was “completely fake”<\/a><\/strong>, though he and another writer have tweeted their opposition to the US president-elect.<\/p>\n #DumpStarWars has been retweeted 120,000 times in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n In a Periscope video<\/a>, Jack Posobiec, who is an activist with Citizens for Trump, claimed the writers had said the Empire in the film “is a white supremacist organisation like the Trump administration and the diverse rebels are going to defeat them”.<\/p>\n “They’re trying to make the point of using this movie to push the false narrative… that Trump is a racist.” he said.<\/p>\n The basis of the claims appears to be tweets sent by Mr Weitz and fellow screenwriter Gary Whitta.<\/p>\n Following Mr Trump’s election win in November, Mr Weitz posted: “Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organisation.”<\/p>\n Mr Whitta responded: “Opposed by a multi-cultural group led by brave women.”<\/p>\n Both tweets were deleted within the day and Chris Weitz later apologised for politicising the film.<\/p>\n Donald Trump has 17 million followers on Twitter.<\/p>\n Among them are a group of vocal supporters who frequently champion him and are quick to denigrate those who oppose or criticise him.<\/p>\n #DumpStarWars is only the latest in a series of online campaigns they have launched.<\/p>\n In the last few weeks, there have also been calls to boycott the cereal company Kelloggs, Starbucks and the musical Hamilton.<\/p>\n A handful of accounts are frequently retweeted in the thousands.<\/p>\n They tend belong to people who work in the media, managing websites or producing other media supporting Trump.<\/p>\n The most high-profile is Briton Paul Joseph Watson, an editor at Infowars, a website that has published outlandish conspiracy theories including one claiming Hillary Clinton has a secret “satanic network”.<\/p>\n The tone of their tweets is frequently combative and polemical. They are quick to bait “liberals” or “social justice warriors” but not averse to a bit of martyrdom either, frequently decrying the MSM – mainstream media – as liars that victimise Mr Trump.<\/p>\n One conspiracy theory based on fake news which was popular among them, #pizzagate, led a man to fire a rifle in a restaurant linked to it<\/a> this week.<\/p>\nImage copyright<\/span>@JACKPOSOBIEC<\/span><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/h2>\nThe pro-Trump Twitter army<\/h2>\n