People are still hating on Salvatore for killing off Chewbacca. Even though the editors pretty much ordered him too, Salvatore was the only one who would do it, because none of the current generation of Star Wars EU authors would do it.
Also, the editors originally wanted Luke to be the one killed, but can you imagine the shitstorm from that one?
Leia could give Luke a blowjob (while Han watched) in the EU and I still wouldn't care.
Pitch that idea to Bantam, and I'd bet you 10-to-1, they'd run with it.
Or some psycho fan would write a disturbing XXX fanfic about it.
Like there aren't already thousands of em.....