George Lucas Apologizes For Calling Disney ‘White Slavers’ Who Bought ‘Star Wars’

The box office is currently being destroyed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and there are not a lot of people who have been down on it. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, has had some choice things to say about it and Disney. Now, Lucas has publicly apologized for saying that he sold his precious franchise to “white slavers.”

As the New York Times reported, Lucas recently did an interview with Charlie Rose, where he criticized The Force Awakens and said it was simply too “retro” for his liking. He said that he had ideas for the new film, but Disney went their own route.

“They looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans’… They decided they didn’t want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing….They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway — but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that anymore, and all I would do is muck everything up,” he said. “And so I said, ‘Okay, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’

“They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that. Every movie I work very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships, make it new.”

Well, he’s allowed to have his own opinion on the film, and Lucas certainly continued to talk. As he did, he referred to the movies as his “kids” and then went on to say that he “sold them to the white slavers.”

It appears as if Lucas caught himself and stopped talking before going any further with that comment about Disney. Back in late 2012, Lucas sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney for an incredible $4.05 billion.

Now, Lucas is backtracking, and BBC News reports that he has issued a statement that apologizes for the way he spoke of Disney. Lucas said he “misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologize.”

He went on to say how he has been working with Disney for 40 years and hand-picked the company as the “custodians” of the Star Wars franchise. Lucas said he has great respect for the company and for Disney CEO Bob Iger’s leadership with 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 J.J. [Abrams, The Force Awakens director] and Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president and Star Wars brand manager].”

The Star Wars franchise still has two more films, at least, coming in the next few years. Through Wednesday, The Force Awakens earned $629.034 million at the domestic box office and $1.3 billion worldwide.

Making matters even more insane with those numbers is that it doesn’t even open in China until January 9.

George Lucas first gave his full approval of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, then criticized it, and has now backtracked again. Going back on calling Disney “white slavers” is something else he’s now done, but that was rather expected. The franchise is thriving and going to live on for years to come, no matter what the creator may say.

[Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images]