While Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm has been a success, this era of Star Wars storytelling certainly hasn't been without its share of controversy. Most of the backlash relates to creative decisions, and there are some who would like to see Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy fired (and replaced with Dave Filoni or The Mandalorian head writer Jon Favreau).
Believe it or not, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked during The Walt Disney Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders whether there are plans to give Kennedy the boot and have Filoni step in.
"We’ve been absolutely thrilled that we can have the kind of talent in our company, the likes of Kathy Kennedy to run [Lucasfilm]," Chapek responded. "We look forward to having Kathy directing the activities of the entire Lucasfilm organization for many years to come."
The Disney CEO was also asked about Gina Carano being fired from The Mandalorian after what the studio previously described as "abhorrent" social media posts. There are some fans who have come to the former MMA fighter's defence, and Chapek was quick to point out that the studio isn't taking a political stance when asked if the actress was fired for being a conservative.
"I don’t really see Disney as left-leaning or right-leaning," he responded when some of Pedro Pascal's posts were mentioned for the sake of comparison. Chapek added that the studio stands "for values that are universal: respect, decency, integrity and inclusion, and we seek to have the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live in. And I think that’s a world we should all live in harmony and peace."
This is likely to be the studio's final word on the matter, but it's fair to say that Chapek was faced with some hard-hitting questions during the call, and handled them exactly as you might expect.
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