The internet can be an ugly place. At the same time, it’s a bounty of wisdom, the repository of essentially all human knowledge, and even the location where many go for the officially-approved narratives of our time. Rising out of the world wide web early on, Wikipedia not only became the destroyer of essentially every encyclopedia on the planet, it also became crucial in setting what is seen as fact and/or fiction. As a result, maintaining control of what is said on Wikipedia pages is very important to very important people.
Kathleen Kennedy is the head of Lucasfilm and the shepherd of all things Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Willow, LucasArts (now Lucasfilm Games) and more. For many, she’s not succeeded in keeping those franchises vibrant.
Google trends for Disney Star Wars. As we approach the end of the “Skywalker Saga”, interest should be peaking and anticipation at fever pitch.
Instead, it’s flatlining. pic.twitter.com/Al4JMWxRKr
— Lucas Star Wars Girl (@LucasSWGirl) November 4, 2019
the acolyte fell off the Nielsen charts three weeks in a row #theacolyte star wars ratings viewership disney plus pic.twitter.com/2wWP9pQX3c
— Voyager (@voyagerdescend) August 2, 2024
Despite controversies surrounding her handling of the Gina Carano situation, an on-going lawsuit against Lucasfilm funded by Elon Musk, dwindling ratings on Disney Plus, and the latest Indiana Jones movie having been one of the worst financial flops in the history of cinema… you might not know that reading Kennedy’s Wikipedia page. In fact, the supposedly objective source of information seems to only have very glowing and praiseworthy commentary on the forty-year-plus career of the woman who took over for George Lucas. So how can that be?
Well… according to a source that reached out to us, there’s a very strong effort that has been going on behind the scenes of the Wikipedia article to make sure that Kathleen Kennedy keeps a very particular type of presentation on the online encyclopedia.
Here’s the message we received that began our journey of investigating what might spill out beyond just Kathleen Kennedy:
Hey Pro! I am a listener of your channel and a reader of That Park Place…The article has been curated to avoid controversy as well as to avoid mentions of South Park’s Joining the Panderverse special, even when said controversies and criticisms are documented by reliable sources used elsewhere on Wikipedia. The chatter began in November 2023 and has continued up to today as of writing on October 24, 2024. I invite you to read her Talk page where editors are actively clashing over the subject as well as her History page where you can see the flow of revisions.
Captured from Wikipedia on 10/25/2024
Note the continued discussions throughout the year:
Captured from Wikipedia on 10/25/2024
And a look at how often this is occurring:
Captured from Wikipedia on 10/25/2024
In just the months of July and August in 2024, the editor “Nemov” appears to have erased any attempted changes to the page outside of grammatical and/or typo revisions. For the full list of controversies surrounding the page, readers can do a deep-dive with the back-and-forth of editors here, as well as see the full chronological change attempts (and subsequent “scrubs” of them) here.
Although we believe it not uncommon for celebrities and famous persons to hire teams that specialize in keeping a Wikipedia and other social presences clear of controversies for their benefit, we want to be very forthright in stating that we do not have any proof nor indication, at this time, that either Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm or The Walt Disney Company are involved in edits to her Wikipedia page. We are continuing to investigate beyond the scope of this particular article you are reading today and will update you with further information once, and if, it becomes available.
