Elon Musk starts new beef with Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy, says the 'Star Wars' chief is 'more deadly than the Death Star'

• Elon Musk apparently doesn't like what Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy has done with "Star Wars."
• Kennedy has been criticized by fans for her focus on progressive themes and female protagonists.

Elon Musk doesn't like what Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has done with the "Star Wars" franchise.

"She's more deadly than the Death Star!" Musk wrote Friday on his social-media platform, X, in response to a meme that called Kennedy a "franchise killer."

The Academy Award-winning film producer was appointed president of Lucasfilm after the company was acquired by Disney in 2012. But Kennedy's leadership of Lucasfilm has drawn a mixed reception from "Star Wars" fans.

While Kennedy was initially able to land box-office hits like 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and 2016's "Rogue One," Lucasfilm's subsequent entries into the sci-fi franchise have been lacking.

In 2018, "Star Wars" saw a big box-office bomb in "Solo: A Star Wars Story," Deadline reported.

The franchise's foray into streaming has also yielded mixed results, with shows like "The Book of Boba Fett" doing poorly with audiences, per Rotten Tomatoes.

And it seems that Kennedy's focus on progressive themes and female protagonists in "Star Wars" projects has been a huge bugbear for Musk.

"Kathleen Kennedy is super bigoted against men," he wrote in a subsequent X post on Saturday, referring to an interview that Kennedy gave to The New York Times last month.

In the interview, Kennedy defended Leslye Headland, the director and writer of the latest "Star Wars" television series, "The Acolyte," after fans slammed Headland and called her "woke."

"Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation — it's terrifying," Kennedy told the Times.

"I think a lot of the women who step into 'Star Wars' struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fan base being so male dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal," she added.

To be sure, Kathleen's stewardship of "Star Wars" isn't the only reason behind the franchise's perceived decline among fans.

In 2019, Disney chief Bob Iger said the studio might have released too many Star Wars projects after acquiring Lucasfilm. Iger stepped down as CEO in 2020 before returning to the job in 2022.

"I just think that we might've put a little bit too much in the marketplace too fast," Iger told The New York Times in a report published in September 2019.

This criticism of Kennedy isn't the first time Musk has expressed his displeasure at what he brands "woke" ideology and people who champion diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

"DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it," Musk said in an X post in January.

Kennedy also wasn't the first executive to draw Musk's ire regarding progressive corporate initiatives. Musk tore into fellow billionaire Mark Cuban after the latter voiced his support for corporate DEI initiatives earlier this year.

"Mark Cuban is desperately trying to signal his 'virtue', but his hypocrisy convinces no one," Musk wrote in an X post published in January.

Representatives for Musk and Kennedy did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.