The George Lucas Usenet Archive

Sir Alec Guinness: I didn't do it
From: George Lucas
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc
Subject: Sir Alec Guinness: I didn't do it
Organization: Lucasfilm, Ltd.
Message-ID:
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 21:45:27 -0500
Dear Star Wars Fans,

Recent events concerning my dear friend, Sir Alec Guinness, have been brought to my attention thanks to my devoted lackeys. I hereby express my very deep regrets as to his passing. I would like to take this opportunity to state that I was in no way involved with his death, and I have no direct knowledge of any such involvement on the part of any Lucasfilm employee. Although the wording may change slightly, I am prepared to sign an affidavit to this effect once it has been prepared by my legal team.

Hard proof is not easy to come up with when everyone is still feeling very raw and emotional. For now, I ask only that you take me at my word. Even as I write this, I am fighting back the tears. Sir Alec Guinness was really like a father to me, a kind of step-father or uncle twice-removed actually, but a paternal presence all the same. Certainly no one I would have the motive to harm. Ignore the gossip-mongers and yellow journalists and police coroners with their fancy jargon and clever theories. It is now I, George Walton Lucas, who will lead the fight to discover Ben Kenobi's real killer.

Please, my Star Wars minions, give me aid in this my darkest moment. If there should be a desperate pounding at your door in the dead of night, it may well be me scrambling for safety from those who would hunt me down and chase me from the grandiose excess of my private underground city. Let me in, provide me with food, and introduce me to your high school-aged sister if you have one. In return I will regale you with stories of the writing of Episode 2 and on-set shenanigans like the time I got Mark Hamill drunk and had my face tatooed on his chest. By morning I may be gone.

May the Force Be With You Always,

G.L.