Re: David Prowes will not appear at official Star Wars events
No matter what you think about Lucas, he has always been a shrewd business man. He didn't have the money to make the original Star Wars, and secured studio (Fox) backing for it while retaining the intellectual rights to it (including merchandising) by reduicing his own pay to minimum scale pay as a director? That's nearly unheard of. And he kept going back for more and more money after the inititial budget was spent and still retained ownership of Star Wars? That's genius.
An example for comparision is the Simspons. Did you know that it is not owned by the creator? Yeah, he gets royalties and paid as executive producer or consultant, but Fox owns the Simpsons. Trek was owned by Desilu Studios, then Paramount, then CBS. Not Gene Roddenberry, his estate or his heirs. And in general, most movie studios own the rights to the movies they finance. But Lucas has always owned Star Wars.
David Prowse signed the contract that specified net profits (vs. gross profits). It is perfectly legitimate, just and legal. He agreed to his compensation back then. He has no legal right to complain and there is no legal basis to ask for more money.
After RotJ grossed (not netted) over a certain amount in 1983, Lucas awarded the three principle actors, Anthony Daniels and Sir Alec Guiness (who only played a ghost at that point) additional profit points, which are a specific portions of 1% of the gross, above and beyond what he had initially contracted to pay them. He didn't have to, but he did out of generosity. He calculated a certain amount he could give away, and decided who in the cast was most important in the success of Star Wars, and divided up the bonus points among them.
If David Prowse or any of you fans feel that he should have gotten something extra, then if anything it should be for back then, not now. The letters Prowes gets now are a reflection of his original contract. David Prowes was not as important to the success of Star Wars as the others who did get got the bonus based on gross, not net. If it is any consulation, I feel that James Earl Jones is much more important to Star Wars than David Prowes, but Jones didn't get any additional bonus gross points either.
Now, all that being said, Prowes has still been able to make a living out of formally playing Darth Vader. He has been to zillions of (non-Lucasfilm) sc-fi conventions, getting paid for appearances and to give autographs. Whining about something he signed his name in agreement to decades ago is a bit rediculous on his part. He got banned from official Lucas-sponsored conventions because he is bad-mouthing Lucasfilm, not because Lucas didn't feel he deserved any more compensation than what he originally agreed to.
Ironically, Prowes's bitching about not getting enough money has now eliminated any future possibilities of getting paid offically through Lucas-sponsored events. I'm an old school original-generation Star Wars fanboy, and I think Prowes is an idiot. He wanted more money from Lucas, and now he is getting less. Don't bite the hand that feeds!
But I don't feel sorry for Prowes anyway. He will still get paid for being Darth Vader, just not from Lucasfilm. He may not legally be able to appear as Vader with the costume on, but he will still be invited to non-Lucas sci-fi conventions and such. He can still sell autographs for money.
And regarding him believing that they didn't use his voice for Vader to fill some minority quota in Star Wars, I don't think it is fair to outright accuse Prowes of being a racist, although maybe he is. But that rational is completely rediculous. J.E. Jones has an awesome voice that was perfect for Vader, regardless of his race.