George Lucas Apologizes for ‘White Slavers’ Comment
On Wednesday, Star Wars grandmaster George Lucas expressed a surprising amount of seller’s remorse during an interview with Charlie Rose. I’m not going to reiterate too much, seeing as how we already covered George’s off-color remarks when the news hit, but I can certainly summarize for you: during the interview, Lucas expressed his wishes for the next Star Wars installment, how it differed drastically from Disney’s vision, and likened his films, his creations, to children suffering poor treatment at the hands of Disney’s ‘white slavers.’ Whoops.
In the midst of his mildly venomous exclamation, George managed to contain himself, but alas, a modicum of damage was already done. I imagine Lucas being completely healed from the hailstorm of stones hurled at him in hourly, prodigious increments after the release of The Phantom Menace. However, after this recent comment, I believe the Lucas-haters may be warming up their throwing arms again.
Regardless, Lucas lamented and offered an official statement yesterday apologizing for his remarks:
“I want to clarify my interview on the Charlie Rose Show. It was for the Kennedy Center Honors and conducted prior to the premiere of the film. I misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologize.”
“I have been working with Disney for 40 years and chose them as the custodians of Star Wars because of my great respect for the company and Bob Iger’s leadership. Disney is doing an incredible job of taking care of and expanding the franchise. I rarely go out with statements to clarify my feelings but I feel it is important to make it clear that I am thrilled that Disney has the franchise and is moving it in such exciting directions in film, television and the parks. Most of all I’m blown away with the record breaking blockbuster success of the new movie and am very proud of JJ and Kathy.”
And there you have it. You would think an amount of money substantial enough to build a fully functioning Death Star might dissuade an artist from getting catty. Hmmmm.
Hmmmmmmmm. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!