Hollywood insider and analyst Matthew Belloni recently shared that within The Walt Disney Company, Kathleen Kennedy is “not known as a woke warrior.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 15: Kathleen Kennedy arrives at the special 3-episode launch event for Lucasfilm’s original series Andor at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on September 15, 2022. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
During his April 1st episode of The Town podcast discussing the proxy war between Nelson Peltz and The Walt Disney Company’s Board of Directors, Belloni discussed the role of Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm with Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw after bringing up Elon Musk’s April Fool’s post.
Musk posted, “Excited to join Disney as their Chief DEI Officer. Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke! Even the linguini.”
Excited to join @Disney as their Chief DEI Officer.
Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke!
Even the linguini.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2024
Belloni, who is no fan of Kathleen Kennedy and blasted The Walt Disney Company for re-upping her contract back in 2021, stated on his podcast, “Kathy Kennedy is not that—. That whole South Park thing was sort of—. It was funny, but it wasn’t accurate. Like, within Disney, she’s not known as the woke warrior.”
He continued, “She kind of has to be convinced. From everything I’ve been told, she has to kind of be convinced to do this stuff.”
Belloni then attempted to make his point by noting there had not been a female Star Wars director under her leadership, “And there’s still never been a female director of a Star Wars movie. … I’m very critical of Kathy Kennedy, but I don’t think that she’s gone overboard on the diversity stuff.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
However, Kennedy herself declared she was pushing for feminism in Star Wars back in 2015. During an appearance at Fortune Magazine’s The Most Powerful Women Summit, Kennedy said, “I think the interesting path we’ve had is the conversation that took place around consumer products. Because there were a lot of companies that were in place who frankly didn’t initially feel that Star Wars was for girls.”
She continued, “And when you have a company situation where between Lucasfilm and Disney, we were all looking at this situation saying, ‘No, with Star Wars we have to change this. We have to make sure that we create products that are in a sense appealing to both boys and girls.’ What’s wrong with that?”
Kennedy would go on to detail, “The fact that the company was bought by The Walt Disney Company has been amazing because they very much support the fact that we are trying to grow in the work force a number of women in executive positions and in all positions inside the company. And with the movies that we are making and with the protagonists that we are putting in the stories. So I get a huge amount of support with that.”
She added, “But we have 50% of our executive team are women. And six out of eight of the people in my story group are women. And I’m sure there’s a lot of people that would be surprised that we’re making Star Wars movies and the majority of the people involved in the development of those stories are women. And I think it’s making a huge difference in the stories that we’re trying to tell.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 15: Kathleen Kennedy arrives at the special 3-episode launch event for Lucasfilm’s original series Andor at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on September 15, 2022. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
Under Kennedy’s leadership, Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company soft rebooted Star Wars with The Force Awakens. Luke Skywalker was replaced with Rey. R2-D2 and C-3PO were replaced with BB-8. Kylo Ren replaced Darth Vader. Snoke replaced the Emperor. The wise mentor figure of Obi-Wan Kenobi was completely erased. Han Solo and Chewbacca were replaced by Poe Dameron and Finn.
Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens (2015), Lucasfilm
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The franchise has also eschewed its clear moral position of a battle between right and wrong, good and evil. Now, the series embraces a balance between good and evil. Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi also coined the phrase, “Let the past die, kill it if you have to.”
Outside of its film and TV production, the company fired Gina Carano from The Mandalorian and the planned Rangers of the New Republic Disney+ series for her political and moral positions.
(L_R): Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) and Cara Dune (Gina Carano) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season two, exclusively on Disney+. © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of Belloni’s claim?
