Boasting that she’s not a fan of Star Wars because of its “wokeness” and feminism, Fox News host Emily Compagno instead gleefully declared on Thursday that she was instead a “Trekkie,” seemingly unaware that Star Trek has long been lauded over its progressive bona fides.
Days into a conservative media freakout over Disney announcing that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy—a Pakistani-born woman who’s directed award-winning feminist documentaries—will helm the next installment in the Star Wars franchise, Fox News panel show Outnumbered decided to jump into the fray with its own predictable take.
For the most part, the conservative Fox hosts parroted much of the outrage that’s been sweeping right-wing social media about Disney’s decision to hire the first woman and first person of color to direct a Star Wars feature film. Conservative anger has especially been directed at Obaid-Chinoy for recently saying “it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away,” as well as comments she made eight years ago about how she enjoys “making men uncomfortable” with her films.
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“And it appears wokeness is nothing new for this director,” Compagno groused before airing Obaid-Chinoy’s “uncomfortable” remarks. “Pretty great attitude for a director of a franchise that is geared towards men!”
Towards the end of the segment, which featured the panel predicting the film would be a “flop,” co-host Kayleigh McEnany ran down a list comparing recent conservative entertainment successes to “woke” misfires—which naturally included Bud Light.
“But best of luck to the feminist director, I’m sure your movie will be a hit,” McEnany sarcastically added.
“And that’s why I’m a Trekkie and not Star Wars!” Compagno reacted, complete with a backward Vulcan salute.
While it would be easy to point out that Star Trek aired the first interracial kiss on American television in the 1960s, promoted gender and racial equality, and advanced socialist concepts such as the elimination of currency-based capitalism to prove how politically left the series has always been, Compagno shouldn’t just take our word.
Fox News itself has griped previously about the sci-fi staple going “woke.”
Conservative pundit David Marcus wrote a 2022 op-ed for the right-wing network complaining that Star Trek had become awash in “woke politics,” pointing to Star Trek Discovery’s casting of Stacey Abrams in the series, as well as a reference to the Jan. 6 insurrection in Strange New Worlds.
