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Star Wars To Rename The Light And Dark Side Of The Force? A Fake Rumor Explained
The “Fandom Menace” has struck again, as another troll-orchestrated rumor about “Star Wars” has come out of nowhere and duped people. According to a now-deleted post on Reddit, the franchise’s creators plan on getting rid of the Force’s “Light Side” and “Dark Side” descriptors as the terminology is apparently too racially insensitive. However, the report doesn’t have any basis in reality whatsoever, so don’t fall for it.
It’s understandable why some people accepted the rumor as gospel. As documented by iFunny, the perpetrator created a convincingly photoshopped fake X (formerly Twitter) post from the IGN website, featuring a false quote from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy defending the decision. “It’s not 1977 anymore, times have changed, and Star Wars needs to adapt,” the quote read. While it’s true that some changes have made the “Star Wars” franchise better, this one doesn’t appear to be on the cards in real life.
While “Star Wars” contains many questionable things people ignore, the Force isn’t one of them. Still, social media has been in a tailspin since the fake rumor came to light, with users sharing their thoughts on the toxic side of the “Star Wars” fanbase.
Some believe the Fandom Menace wants to attack Kathleen Kennedy
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
The false rumor follows in the wake of another divisive project set a long time ago in that galaxy far, far away. “The Acolyte” is tearing “Star Wars” fans apart, with the toxic side taking aim at the actors’ skin colors, genders, and other immutable characteristics. As such, some fans believe that the post about the Force was a troll job orchestrated to stir up unnecessary hate toward Kathleen Kennedy and diversity in the franchise.
“She does not want to rename the light and dark side of the Force. That’s a complete troglodyte troll job from somewhere in the fever swamps that someone attributed to her, with quotes that she obviously never actually said,” @thelfoley wrote on Threads. Elsewhere, @julieevensen noted that the Force wasn’t even envisioned with the “Light Side” and “Dark Side” descriptors in the first place: those terms were coined to make the concept more accessible to audiences. As such, it isn’t actually a stretch to come up with other terminology, even though it isn’t happening. “Like even if whatever this is were actually true, that’s just like a thing that happens as stories evolve, my dudes,” she wrote.
In this case, the arguments are over nothing. No one involved in the decision-making process behind “Star Wars” has gone on record claiming that the Force is racially insensitive, so there’s really nothing to see here — except, once again, the “dark side” of “Star Wars” fandom.