Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm.com
The internet has forever changed the way we communicate. The people we surround ourselves with, the ways we keep in touch with them, and even the ways we define community are all drastically different now than they were even ten years ago. In many ways, it helps us communicate, while also sometimes debilitating our traditional means of discussion.
One of the results of all these new capabilities is the ability to discover like-minded individuals across the planet, and even further develop a sense of like-mindedness through influential messaging and a bit of groupthink. Misinformation loves groupthink. These internet communities vary greatly in size from small local groups on Facebook to massive operations such as QAnon.
One of these pockets developed shortly after Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4.4 billion in 2012. Online fandoms have always been places of passionate debate and speculation, not necessarily known for rigorous fact-checking, but what I’ll refer to as the Dark Side of Star Wars fandom really found its wings once Lucasfilm started releasing new Star Wars films in 2015. When disapproval over creative choices was weaponized via some of the more controversial YouTubers, bloggers, and podcasters, a lot of fingers started to point toward Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. The claim after every perceived stumble that Lucasfilm makes is:
Kathleen Kennedy is Getting Fired
Let’s look at a very specific recent instance of this claim:
Note: the above image is intentionally not a link to the video discussed here in an attempt to limit traffic and prevent a spike in views. See, I do my part.
The claim made in this video is that Kennedy is going to be fired “soon” from her position with Lucasfilm. My alarm goes off as this is a claim I’ve literally heard for years, so let’s dive in and see how reliable this information is.
Before I even get to the contents of the video that makes this claim, I’m going to take a quick look at the source. A quick look at his YouTube profile reveals that Vito has been around since 2010 and has over 34 million views at the time I’m writing this. He’s got 348,000 subscribers and posts roughly 2-5 videos in an average month. In YouTube terms, that’s a pretty well-established source.
Now let’s look at his typical video content.
Vito’s clearly targeting people’s emotions by framing almost every video he makes about a “disaster” or just listing all the ways in which he’s been disappointed by a piece of media. This is a red flag that tells me Vito isn’t going to release a video about Kathleen Kennedy unless there’s some opportunity for him to criticize or insult her. The tendency to criticize everything he posts about sets up an expectation that he doesn’t just expect her to get fired, but also that he wants her gone. Now we’re seeing some incentive for him (and by extension his viewers) to want to believe this news.
So let’s look at the video. It starts with an all-out thrashing of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy — just a few minutes of setting up impartiality /s. He then goes on a sexist rant about how a man should be in charge of Lucasfilm since Star Wars is for boys and a woman can’t understand it. He softens the blow however with a “Not to sound sexist, but…”
“So often we hear — from YouTubers we hear: Kathleen Kennedy’s getting fired next month, she’s getting fired next week, she’s getting fired tomorrow. We’ve been hearing this for years now. It’s never coming true. Well the rumor now is that Kathleen Kennedy is finally going to be out at Lucasfilm and I’m going to tell you why this time I think it might actually be for real.”
-Vito, Kathleen Kennedy Fired From Lucasfilm (YouTube)
So let’s look at his exact claim: he says that Hollywood insider John Campea has announced that, as part of Bob Iger’s return as CEO of Disney, Kennedy is on the chopping block. Now let’s trace the info back to its source and see what Mr. Campea said…
Who is His Source?
John Campea’s claim on his video was that, after claiming that Iger’s return cemented Kennedy’s future with Lucasfilm, he got an email from “somebody very connected” followed by a phone call from somebody “even more connected” telling him that he was wrong and that she will be let go around the time of Indiana Jones V’s release. No sources are given and he is the only one reporting this particular event. He goes on to express that he hopes it’s not true, but that these sources are very trusted.
A quick look into Mr. Campea’s channel show’s he’s got 322K subscribers and posts very frequently. His videos tend to be fact-based and general entertainment news, not as inflammatory as someone like Vito. A Wikipedia search reveals that he’s worked in the film industry for over 15 years for companies like San Diego Comic Con, AMC Movie News, and Collider, so we have reason to believe he’s a reliable source, but who sent the email and made the phone call are still unknown.
So who else is reporting it?
A search on the phrase “kathleen kennedy fired” returns several results, but the sources leave something to be desired. Star Wars News Net, World of Reel, and ComicBook.com definitely all spend time speculating about Star Wars, but trusted sources like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, or Vanity Fair have no coverage at all. Hmm…
Switching over to the “videos” tab, we see there are in fact plenty of videos claiming this and they’re *checks notes* all from Mike Zeroh, a many-times debunked clickbait Star Wars YouTuber.
Plausability
So now we are left with a claim by Vito, a YouTuber who has made a career of inciting rage and scapegoating Kathleen Kennedy that, based on his source (John Campea — not bad)’s source (unknown — bad), Kathleen Kennedy is being fired from Lucasfilm soon, a job she’s had since 2012 and has been rumored to be getting fired from since at least 2018.
There is no reason to believe Kathleen Kennedy is getting fired any time soon. She’s been in her current role for 11 years and for most of that time, the Dark Side of Star Wars fandom have been either claiming she’s about to be fired or calling for her to get fired– sometimes both. YouTubers who make dubious claims about insider information are incentivized to appeal to your emotions to drive traffic and earn more ad money. They face no repercussions for “getting it wrong” like a news organization would. Take what they say with a grain of salt, or just don’t take it at all. If something they say sounds interesting to you, see who else is reporting it before accepting it as fact.
Most importantly, if it sounds questionable, question it.