Ex-MMA fighter Gina Carano suing Disney and Lucasfilm after being fired from her role in The Mandalorian
Actress and former MMA fighter Gina Carano is looking to take Disney and Lucasfilm to task after she was fired from her supporting role on The Mandalorian over a tweet where she compared being a Republican to being a Jew during the Holocaust.
Carano is reportedly seeking $75,000 in damages and is also demanding to be recast as Cara Dune on the popular series set in the Star Wars universe where she regularly appeared during the first two seasons. During her run on the hit show, she regularly tussled with left-wingers on social media. So much so that plans for her to star in her own spin-off series on Disney+ were scrapped after she mocked mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic and made false accusations regarding voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
The straw that broke the camel’s back came in February 2021 when she likened being a Republican to being a Jew during the Holocaust.
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews,” the post read.
“How is that any different from hating someone for their political views.”
The hashtag #FireGinaCarano went viral shortly after. Disney and Lucasfilm acted swiftly, announcing that there were no plans to work with the former fighter in the future.
“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano was also dropped as a client by UTA (United Talent Agency), an agency spokesperson confirmed. However, UTA is not named in Tuesday’s court filing, which alleges that the Walt Disney Company was at fault for the agency dropping her.
Gina Carano Claims She Was Fired for Standing up to the ‘online bully mob‘
The 59-page civil suit, filed in California federal court, lays out allegations of wrongful termination and retaliation in a narrative brimming with Star Wars references.
“A short time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Defendants made it clear that only one orthodoxy in thought, speech, or action was acceptable in their empire, and that those who dared to question or failed to fully comply would not be tolerated,” the complaint begins (h/t BBC.com).
Carano claims she was fired “because she dared voice her own opinions… and stood up to the online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology.” In a lengthy statement on X, Carano said she had been subjected to “a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me.”
“Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment,” she added while thanking Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul and owner of X, who has offered to pick up the tab for her lawsuit against The House of Mouse.
“Please let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney,” Musk wrote in response to Carano’s statement.
