According to Elon Musk, the dark side of “awakened” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is strong.
The X owner slammed Kennedy for endangering the Star Wars franchise by pushing “woke” propaganda with her latest spin-off, “The Acolyte,” which has attracted criticism for depicting its protagonists as being created by “lesbian space witches” as part of its storyline.
“She’s scarier than the Death Star!” Musk wrote in response to X’s post, which described Kennedy as a “franchise killer” alongside other Imperial death machines.
Kennedy, who has served as president of Lucasfilm since Disney acquired the film company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas in 2012, defended his decision to hire Leslye Headland to direct “The Acolyte,” which is currently streaming on Disney+.
In response to another X post which suggested Kennedy had hired Headland because she struggled as showrunner with a predominantly male fanbase, Musk wrote that “Kathleen Kennedy is extremely biased against men.”
The Washington Post has reached out to Kennedy for comment.
Lucas, who launched the famous franchise before selling his company to Disney for $4 billion, has no involvement with any of the Star Wars spinoffs.
Headland, the first woman to produce a TV series about the franchise, has sought to increase diversity in “Acolyte” by casting underrepresented actors, including Amandla Stenberg, who identifies as non-binary and gay, and Korean star Lee Jung-jae.
“Acolyte”‘s controversial storyline suggests that two powerful witches from the all-female Jedi society used the Force to create female children, the lead twins played by Amandla Stenberg.
Kennedy supported Headland. He told the New York Times“I believe stories need to represent all people.”
She said supporting Headland was “an easy decision for me.”
Kennedy said it was “frightening” to face backlash from a “male-dominated” fanbase that had reacted negatively to recent Star Wars films and TV series that featured female stars, including Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the sequel trilogy, “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Headland responded to the criticism: He told The Hollywood Reporter Last week, she said she didn’t think “Acolyte” was “Queer with a capital Q.”
Disney has come under fire in recent years for introducing “woke” content in an effort to appeal to a wider audience.
Last year, the Comedy Central satirical cartoon series “South Park” mocked Disney for “pandering” to audiences by promoting diversity in series like “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones.”
In a South Park episode titled “Join the Panderverse,” the show takes aim at Kennedy, accusing her of ordering producers of her franchise projects to “put a girl in there” and “make her tacky and gay.”
In 2021, Disney fired Gina Carano, star of the Star Wars spinoff series The Mandalorian. After a series of social media postsSome of these compare the political situation in the United States to the era of Nazi Germany.
Tesla CEO Musk, a longtime critic of Disney, announced earlier this year that he was supporting Carano’s lawsuit against the company.
Carano, the former mixed martial arts star who played Cara Dune in the spinoff, claimed she was removed from the series for espousing conservative views.
She is asking the court to order Disney’s Lucasfilm division to reinstate her in her role, and is seeking compensatory damages of up to $75,000 to be determined in court, as well as emotional distress and punitive damages.
Last year, Musk slammed Disney CEO Bob Iger after the company suspended advertising on its X platform due to the prevalence of hate content.
When asked how he responded to brands pulling their ads from his site, Musk replied, “Fuck them.”
Musk clarified his comments last week, saying his social media company was trying to lure back businesses that had left the site and that it wasn’t aimed at all advertisers.
