George Lucas

“Star Wars” creator George Lucas apologized Thursday for an interview in which he criticized the latest film and referred to Disney, which bought the rights to the blockbuster franchise, as “white slavers.”

In the interview with journalist Charlie Rose, part of which aired in November but which was broadcast in full last week, Lucas appears upset at what Disney — which paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012 — did with “The Force Awakens.”

“They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that,” Lucas said, likening the sale to a painful break-up and complaining that the franchise had become too commercial.

“These are my kids. All the ‘Star Wars’ films. I loved them, I created them, I’m very intimately involved in them,” said the 71-year-old. He added, trailing off: “I sold them to the white slavers that take these things and…”

The comments stirred controversy, and Lucas — a recipient of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, seen as the highest recognition of cultural achievement in the United States — issued an apology Thursday.

“I want to clarify my interview on the Charlie Rose Show.

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