Billy Dee Williams has something to get off his chest 35 or so years later over something that his character had done in Empire Strikes Back. The flack he has taken for it prompted him to apologize, but you’ll never guess who he is saying sorry and explaining himself to.
But before I get into that, it’s only fair I post a spoiler warning here. Although it’s hard to believe that if you are reading this site, that you haven’t seen all of them at least once. But to be sure we don’t give anything away, you might want to stop reading here.
SPOILER
Star Wars fans know that in order to keep his operation going in the Cloud City, Lando Calrissian (played by Williams) appeared to have betrayed Han Solo and his friends, offering them up to Darth Vader. And as a result, Han was frozen in carbonite and was taken by Boba Fett back to Jabba because he owed the Hutt money. Later on though in a change of heart, it was actually Vader and the Empire that he betrayed when he participated in saving Han and blowing up the second Death Star with the Millenium Falcon. Williams goes onto further explain that Lando was simply taking the least of two evils, that without his supposed betrayal, he not only would have lost everything (which he did anyway), but Han and company would have suffered a worst fate. We aren’t sure about that, but it sounds like one reasonable explanation.
Who has been given the ex-owner of the Millennium Falcon grief over the incident? Kids. He says that he has been accused of betraying Han Solo by those children who were playing at the playground that he takes his daughter to and so he thought it was important to clarify the matter. And he did so in a video for Wired magazine.
We wonder if he got the idea from Chewbacca’s pseudo apology on Jimmy Kimmel to Harrison Ford (Han Solo) for sleeping with his wife.
[video=youtube;Xdd0edT-BeE]
You have to hand it to Williams. He’s always had a fun attitude about the role that probably turned his career and his life upside down. He has always appeared to be fond of Lando and nice to the fans who remember him as such. He even appeared as a preacher in the song “The Ewoks Gospel”, a low budget music video that features a catchy tune and some love for the furry creatures of legend.
Williams will be promoting Star Tours II: The Adventure Continues for Disney at the D23 Expo later this month in Anaheim, California.
