Lucasfilm Threatened Mad Magazine Over The Empire Strikes Back Parody

There was a time when Mad magazine ruled the magazine racks. If you landed on the cover of Mad, it was both an honor and a sign that you had truly made it. Being skewered by Alfred E. Neuman and company was a strange kind of cultural validation. Politicians, movie stars, musicians, and corporations all found themselves in its crosshairs, and while some laughed along, others reached for their lawyers.

One of the magazine’s most famous legal dust-ups involved George Lucas and The Empire Strikes Back.

In January 1981, Mad published issue #220, featuring a parody called The Empire Strikes Out. Not long after it hit newsstands, Lucasfilm’s legal department fired off a cease-and-desist letter. The lawyers demanded that Mad recall every copy from stores, destroy its printing plates, surrender all profits from the issue, and even pay punitive damages.

There was just one problem.

The lawyers apparently had no idea that George Lucas himself was a huge fan of Mad.

Only weeks earlier, Lucas had personally written to publisher Bill Gaines praising the parody. He reportedly offered to buy the original artwork and famously described artist Mort Drucker and writer Dick DeBartolo as “the Leonardo da Vinci and George Bernard Shaw of comic satire.”

Gaines responded to Lucasfilm’s legal threat in the most Mad way possible. He photocopied Lucas’s fan letter, scribbled a note across the top that read, “Gee, your boss George liked it!” and mailed it back to the legal department. According to DeBartolo, Mad never heard another word about the matter. The lawsuit vanished almost instantly.

Of course, Lucasfilm was hardly the first organization to threaten Mad.

Back in 1961, legendary songwriter Irving Berlin led a staggering $25 million lawsuit against Mad‘s publisher. He was joined by music publishers representing giants such as Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Jerome Kern.

The dispute centered on Mad‘s parody songbooks, which replaced the lyrics of popular songs with absurd and often hilarious alternatives. The case, Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc., eventually reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The court ruled entirely in Mad‘s favor, establishing an important legal precedent that helped protect parody as a form of free expression.

Hollywood star Ava Gardner was another celebrity who considered legal action after Mad mocked her 1954 film The Barefoot Contessa by renaming it The Barefoot No-Countessa. Gardner reportedly threatened a lawsuit over the parody, but the matter never reached court.

Then there was J. Edgar Hoover. In 1957, Mad published a satirical “bureau membership card” that included Hoover’s name and office address. Furious, Hoover sent FBI agents to visit the magazine’s offices and personally admonish Gaines. The pressure was intense enough that Gaines issued a formal apology, promising not to use Hoover’s name again. Like many promises made under pressure, it did not last.

Even the publishers of Superman aimed the magazine. Early in Mad‘s history, DC Comics threatened legal action over the legendary 1953 parody Superduperman!, a merciless send-up of the Man of Steel. Ironically, both companies shared the same copyright lawyer, who initially advised Gaines to stop publishing such material. Gaines sought outside legal advice, ignored the warning, and continued printing parodies. DC ultimately backed down, recognizing that Mad was operating within the bounds of protected satire.

Looking back, the remarkable thing is not how many people threatened to sue Mad. It is how often the magazine won. Time and again, judges, lawyers, and even some of the celebrities themselves recognized that parody serves an important purpose. It pokes holes in egos, challenges powerful institutions, and reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously.

In a world that often feels increasingly sensitive to criticism, Mad magazine’s legal battles remain a reminder that satire is not just entertainment. It is one of the healthiest forms of free speech ever printed on cheap newsprint.