George Lucas Denies That Star Wars Features “All White Men”: “Most Of The People Are Aliens!”

George Lucas dismissed critics’ claims about the perceived lack of diversity in Star Wars at the Cannes Film Festival, where the visionary filmmaker will be receiving an honorary Palme d’Or.

“They would say, ‘It’s all white men.’ I’d say, it’s not. Most of the people are aliens,” he said. “And the idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green and whatever — the idea is all people are equal.”

Lucas, who directed or produced the first six Star Wars films, pointed out that the only characters who were discriminated against in that universe were robots and droids.

 “And that was a way of saying, people are always discriminating against something, and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,” he added. “I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.'”

He continued defending the franchise, pointing out that he cast Black actors Billy Dee Williams and Samuel L. Jackson in major roles.

“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,” he said.

Lucas also noted that Carrie Fischer and Natalie Portman were the ultimate heroes as Princess Leia and Queen Padme Amidala.

“Who do you think the heroes are in these stories? What do you think Princess Leia was? She’s the head of the rebellion. She’s the one that’s taking this young kid who doesn’t know anything and this boisterous, I-know-everything guy who can’t do anything and trying to save the rebellion with these clowns,” he said, before adding, “And it’s the same thing with Queen Amidala.”

The director also explained just how much the franchise changed since he created the franchise in 1977 with Star Wars: A New Hope, a film that he says was “supposed to be a kid’s movie for 12-year-olds that were going through puberty.”

Lucas, who later sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, also criticized the sequels, but acknowledged that he ultimately gave away his creative control when he sold the company.

“I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was…who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it. The force, for example, nobody understood the force,” he said. “When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up.”

The filmmaker will receive the honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday (May 25).