ratpack1961 said:
Something is off about the whole GQ controversy.
Nobody in the mainstream press has ever done a "dirty" Star Wars pictorial when Lucas owned it, probably because he would have sued them into oblivion. (except for that Chewie Leia boob grab but that was pretty innocent compared to the GQ spread)
Disney gets the property and someone does one within months of the movie's release. Disney acts "offended" but does nothing.
They never would have done that photoshoot without prior approval. All smoke and mirror controversy. Move along.
Well LFL/Disney is in a precarious spot. On the one hand, risque pictures of SW characters in a major magazine is not necessarily in the spirit of the franchise, and they're trying really hard right now to control the image of this franchise and putting a lot of thought into what goes out there, and what doesn't. And this doesn't really fit into the image they're crafting.
On the other hand, taking legal action would look pretty bad, like Disney doesn't want to share or play nice with something that isn't really theirs (although this isn't really about Disney, it's up to LFL), and no one really gave a shit when Lucas was in charge (mainstream wise, obviously we always complained). And also, any publicity is good publicity and any exposure is good exposure. It's not an ideal situation, but it's probably a net win for them (certainly it furthers the effort to have SW be a mainstream franchise rather than a niche one).