Daisy Ridley hits out at Ted Cruz over ‘emotionally tortured Jedi’ remark

Daisy Ridley has hit out at US senator Ted Cruz after he appeared to slam her Star Wars character in his defence of the former Mandalorian actor Gina Carano.

After Carano was ousted from the Star Wars TV series by Disney, Cruz became one of her most high-profile defenders.

In a tweet, the Texas senator wrote: “Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked ass & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney cancelled her.”

Many took Cruz’s “emotionally tortured Jedi” remark as a jab at Ridley, who portrayed the emotionally tortured Jedi Rey in the newest Star Wars trilogy.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, Ridley hit back at Cruz, while mocking the recent controversy over the senator’s trip to Cancun amid a state-wide blackout in Texas.

Read more: Twitter users poke holes in Ted Cruz’s defence of Gina Carano amid controversy

“I am very happy to be an emotionally tortured Jedi who doesn’t leave their state when it’s having a terrible time,” Ridley joked.

Cruz came under fire earlier this month after flying to Cancun with his family at the same time as Texans were left to deal with electricity and water shortages due to a weather crisis.

Cruz said that the trip was a “mistake” but that he had left his state to appease his daughters. His approval rating among Texas Republicans has now dropped by 23 per cent.

Ridley, who next stars in the dystopian sci-fi movie Chaos Walking, revealed in December of her upset at being called “intimidating” and “aggressive” by crew members on film sets.