Star Wars Writer Claims He Lost His Job Because of DEI
Disney and Lucasfilm are showing people the real-world consequences of DEI. If you’ve never heard of Adam Bray, he’s either written or co-written several Star Wars reference books for publisher DK over the past ten years, starting with Star Wars: What Makes a Monster? in 2014; he’s done the same for Marvel. (Sidebar: I really love the cover for Marvel: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know.) One of Bray’s more illustrious projects was Ultimate Star Wars, which details the many characters, battles, ships, weapons, and what have you. Bray worked on three editions of Ultimate Star Wars, updating the book throughout the Disney era as more elements were added to the lore via new movies and TV shows. This week, a fourth edition of Ultimate Star Wars, which is now called Star Wars Encyclopedia, was released, but Bray had nothing to do with it – despite his name being on the cover.
What’s going on? Bray spoke exclusively with That Park Place to discuss his omission from the new book, and his story is disturbing, though, unfortunately, not surprising, given the political climate of the last several years and the involvement of Disney and Lucasfilm in Bray’s books.
“As for my non-involvement, this was the first edition they didn’t ask me to work on… They didn’t even tell me about it, which was highly unusual. A few years back, the executive editor told me I was DK licensing’s best writer. She told me Pablo Hidalgo told them I was also their best writer. Second-hand quote, but I believed it… When I asked about the book, I was told Disney/Lucasfilm told them to use more ‘diverse’ writers… Apparently I’m not on the diversity list of authors because I went from doing several books a year for Star Wars to suddenly none. No explanation, and I always had a stellar relationship with Lucasfilm and DK. But suddenly nobody answered my emails… Though they still use my work and name to create new books.”
In other words, DEI may have killed this guy’s career. And while Disney may have forced this on DK if these reports are true, the publishing house is not entirely blameless; they didn’t even bother to give Bray a phone call and tell him they wouldn’t be asking him back. Moreover, they’re still using his name – presumably because, as these are new editions, they use a lot of Bray’s material from the previous versions – but they aren’t paying him. And Bray says he’s no longer writing Marvel books either, new editions of which are also being released with Bray’s name on their covers, and for which he’s receiving no compensation. What a despicable bunch of people, drunk on their own self-righteousness, patting themselves on the back over how inclusive and diverse they are while exploiting a man who made them money for years. This is what the cult of woke does to people.
However, as That Park Place notes, if this is true, what Disney, Lucasfilm, and DK are doing to Bray is likely illegal, and he may have an even more actionable position than Gina Carano, who is currently suing Disney and Lucasfilm over firing her for her personal politics. In fact, and this is me speculating, the discovery in Carano’s case – the one Disney just tried to delay – could help Bray should he choose to take legal action if it uncovers practices like DEI. Right now, he’s hearing this from unspecified people at DK, but if there’s something tangible on the record, he could very well have a case. That Park Place also points out that, as we saw two weeks ago, the political winds in America are blowing in a different direction now, and the public tolerance for DEI and other woke practices has reached its end. Disney may not have as much support for its discriminatory policies as it thought it would when it launched them and cost Bray his job.
Seeing this happen makes it clear why so many recent movies and TV shows have been so lousy, even beyond Disney. We’ve all said this recently, but when you value things like race, gender, and sexuality over merit, you will inevitably not get merit. Even when you have the diverse team you sought, their work will suffer because merit was not a factor in their hiring. For example, I don’t watch The Rings of Power, but I’ve seen those videos of the writers talking about the show and J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, and it’s blatantly obvious nobody involved in hiring them cared whether they were suited to write a show based on The Lord of the Rings. A director and executive producer for Loki said that her top priority was establishing that Loki was bisexual; that show destroyed not only its main character but the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a path that leads to destruction, one Disney has been happy to walk, no matter what it does to their brand or how many people like Adam Bray have to be stepped on.
Amusingly, Adam Bray is offering signed copies of the new edition of what is now called Star Wars Encyclopedia and pointing out that they contain a page on Gina Carano’s character, Cara Dune:
In case you were wondering, Cara Dune @ginacarano is featured in the new DK Star Wars Encyclopedia.
…and you can order signed (by me) copies directly from me. pic.twitter.com/09Loj4akjH
— Author Adam Bray #StarWars (@authoradambray) November 19, 2024
Let us know what you think of Star Wars writer Adam Bray losing his job in the comments!
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