George Lucas is defending the Star Wars franchise against criticism that he cast “all white men” in the movies.
The legendary director just received the Honorary Palme D’Or award during the closing ceremony at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (May 25) in Cannes, France.
George was joined at the event by his wife Mellody Hobson.
During a press conference at the festival, George reacted to the criticism.
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“They would say, ‘It’s all white men,’” he said (via Variety). “Most of the people are aliens! The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal.”
George also talked about robots being the ones discriminated against in the Star Wars movies.
“That was a way of saying, you know, people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen. I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots,’” he said.
He added, “In the first one, there were a few Tunisians who were dark, and in the second one I had Billy Williams, and the [prequels], which they were also criticizing, I had Sam Jackson. He wasn’t a scoundrel like Lando. He was one of the top jedi.”
