‘The worst thing to ever happen to me’: JD Vance just ruined ‘Star Wars’ for a generation

The Star Wars prequels have spent years slowly rehabilitating their image. On release, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith were box office smashes but critical duds, with much mockery of their wooden acting, questionable dialogue, and some odd plot decisions.

But in 2025, the generation of millennials who watched these movies as children has fierce nostalgia for them, even with their flaws. Hayden Christensen’s return as Anakin Skywalker in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka was much praised, and Revenge of the Sith has been an unlikely hit on its 20th anniversary theatrical re-release.

Now all that is in tatters thanks to a certain moon-faced Pope-killing Vice President. In response to a post by Jack Posobiec in which he bashed the prequels and made the bizarre claim that George Lucas “only had a small role in the original series”, Vance responded that the “prequels were underrated”.

Prequels were underrated!

— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 5, 2025

And just like that, with a clatter of Vance’s keyboard, the years of work bolstering the prequels’ reputation were undone. After all, if Vance likes them, they must be bad – that’s just simply inarguable logic. Star Wars fans are now in agony:

Years of prequel revisionism undone by JD Vance. People are in the streets throwing the DVDs into the gutter. An incredible sight to see.

— F♯A♯∞, fka (@coopercooperco) May 5, 2025

jd vance being a prequel defender is the worst thing to ever happen to me

— woop (@woop54) May 5, 2025

Prequel revisionism has reached its end game guys pack it in you’ve been doing it for almost 10 years

Now you got JD Vance tweeting that they were underrated pic.twitter.com/9oI5y58www

— Robert (@JRAMNOTTHAGOAT) May 5, 2025

Hundreds of my mutuals have been building up a prequels reclamation project brick by brick against strong odds over 2 decades and JD Vance just gave it the kiss of death inside of 5 seconds…it’s impressive, really.

— serge daney mcbride (@abs_sweetmarie) May 5, 2025

The prequels are now irrevocably tainted by Vance, all of which means we can finally once again hold our heads up high and say at least three quarters of The Phantom Menace is bad, damn near everything in Attack of the Clones is embarrassing, and while Revenge of the Sith has its moments, they’re few and far between.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the prequels exist as they’ve proved to be a fine setting for many other Star Wars stories and introduced some great characters – but as an actual movie-going experience they’re ugly, boring and bad. Disagree with me? Then line right up alongside JD Vance.