You can’t say it enough: “Go woke, go broke.”
You’d think major corporations would have learned this by now, but even after Anheuser-Busch’s marketing fiasco starring Dylan Mulvaney, some have to learn it the hard way.
Deadline reported Monday that Disney has decided that the panned Disney+ series “The Acolyte” will not continue into a second season. The series — a Star Wars spinoff — is set one-hundred years before “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” and aired in June with eight episodes in its first season.
The series took place during the “High Republic Era” featuring a padawan reuniting with her master as they investigate a series of crimes in the galaxy.
While that synopsis sounds compelling enough to attract casual Star Wars fans, clearly something was amiss given the series brief shelf life.
In June, series creator Leslye Headland spoke to The Wrap, where she and star of the show Amandla Stenberg proceeded to gush over how aggressively the show pushed homosexuality on viewers.
We are happy to report that #TheAcolyte is “arguably the gayest #StarWars” yet. 🌈 Happy Pride Month! 😉 pic.twitter.com/3oJSykc4Kq
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) June 4, 2024
As Headland put it, “People have told me that it’s the gayest ‘Star Wars’ ever, and I’m frankly into it.”
Has Disney ruined Star Wars?
Stenberg added, “I think that ‘Star Wars’ is so gay already.”
Headland, in adding what she considered to be an example of this noted, “Are you telling me with a straight face that C-3PO is straight? I think it’s canon that R2-D2 is a lesbian.”
(C-3PO and R2-D2 are genderless droids.)
Aside from propagandizing two of the original series’ most beloved characters, “The Acolyte” was plagued with eyeroll inducing moments that were only included for the sake of pushing a narrative.
Characters would use “they” pronouns to refer to other characters who were “nonbinary.”
Disney Star Wars pronouns#Acolyte pic.twitter.com/x8GnpnEUUw
— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) June 19, 2024
There were more cringeworthy moments that viewers were quick to blast and mock like when lesbian witches chanted “The power of one! The power of two! The power of many!” as this was apparently part of a conception ritual.
Communist trash.
— Chase Geiser (@realchasegeiser) June 12, 2024
This doesn’t look like Star Wars. It looks like a bunch of Leftists putting a blood curse on Donald Trump.
— Cancel This Podcast (@CancelThisPod) June 12, 2024
(Yes, the show is as blasphemous as it seems.)
While Deadline reports “The Acolyte” had the highest-ranking series premiere on Disney+ and earned a number seven spot on Nielsen’s Top 10 during its premiere week, the enthusiasm began to slow.
That shouldn’t be all that surprising considering what the clips above offer.
Disney, Anheuser-Busch, and many others cannot seem to grasp – before making the catastrophic mistake for themselves — that this is not what people want.
Media and entertainment are meant to be an escape from cultural trends, divisive issues, and politics.
It’s not that the viewer rages at left-wing entertainment while wishing somebody would make Star Wars look like a campaign ad for former President Donald Trump.
They do not want any of it.
When idealogues are able to sink their teeth into one of the most cherished franchises from the childhoods of many viewers, they will turn and run the other direction.
They do not want gay droids. They do not want “nonbinary” characters. They do not want lesbian witches.
They want to give money to support compelling story telling centered around relatable characters who find themselves against the odds only to courageously triumph in the end.
The formula for success is seriously not rocket science.
