"Star Wars" creator George Lucas has issued a formal apology for his poor choice of words regarding the sale of his mega-franchise to Walt Disney Studios.

Lucas, who sold the rights to the series in 2012 for over four billion (yes, that's with a "B") dollars, controversially compared the deal to selling the rights "to white slavers that take these things" during an interview with Charlie Rose about the first post-Lucasfilm installment, "The Force Awakens." Naturally, the galaxy exploded with vitriol over the writer-director-producer's verbiage (and the sentiment behind them, for that matter).

In a statement to People magazine, however, Lucas acknowledged the wrongness of his words and apologized for using them.

"I misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy and for that I apologize," Lucas said. "I have been working with Disney for 40 years and chose them as the custodians of 'Star Wars' because of my great respect for the company and Bob Iger's leadership."

In his discussion with Rose, Lucas also complained about Disney's approach to "The Force Awakens," saying, "They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that ... Every movie, I work very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships, make it new."

Lucas apologized to the House of Mouse for those remarks as well, noting that he was "blown away by the record breaking blockbuster success of the new movie," and further praising director J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy.

Indeed, "Force" has grossed nearly 1.3 billion dollars since its Dec. 18 release, breaking the record for the biggest box office weekend of all time.