It’s been almost three years since Lucasfilm fired Gina Carano from the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” after controversial Twitter comments. Now the Cara Dune actress is suing her former employer.
Disney and its affiliates
At the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, actress and ex-MMA fighter Gina Carano repeatedly attracted attention with controversial posts on the short message service Twitter (now X). Among other things, she came under increasing criticism for the corruption of the use of gender pronouns on Twitter as well as statements against Corona measures and alleged election fraud during the 2020 US presidential election. This backlash ultimately led them to compare and trivialize the hatred of someone because of their political views with the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
For Lucasfilm and parent company Disney, this was the final straw. Carano, who starred as mercenary Cara Dune in the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian” and was also supposed to play the role in the planned spin-off “Rangers Of The New Republic,” was kicked out of the “Star Wars” universe. “Her social media posts in which she denigrates people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,” the official statement said at the time.
After Carano repeatedly expressed her open disapproval of this decision, she is now going one step further and wants to go to court. As US trade publications consistently report and as can also be seen from an X-post from Carano herself, she is now suing Disney and Lucasfilm because she was allegedly fired simply because of expressing right-wing opinions.
Today is an important day for me–I am filing a lawsuit against @lucasfilm & @Disney
After my 20 years of building a career from scratch, and during the regime of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Lucasfilm made this statement on Twitter, terminating me from The Mandalorian: “Gina…
— Gina Carano 🕯 (@ginacarano) February 6, 2024
Gina Carano wants to return to the “Star Wars” universe
“My words have been consistently twisted to demonize and dehumanize me as an alt-right extremist,” Carano said in her statement, in which she accused Disney of repeatedly harassing and defaming her because she did not share the company’s views . According to her own statement, she also feels that she has been treated unfairly because her male co-stars did not experience comparable consequences from Lucasfilm and Disney after allegedly making critical comments about Republican politicians.
The 41-year-old is now suing for both unlawful dismissal and sexual discrimination. Her goal is to obtain a court order that will not only award her at least $75,000 in damages, but also ensure that Lucasfilm re-hires her as Cara Dune.
Funded by Elon Musk
Gina Carano is supported in her lawsuit by billionaire and X and Tesla boss Elon Musk. He once announced that he would cover the legal costs for X-users who feel discriminated against (especially by their employers) because of the reaction to their activities on the platform. And Musk and X are now actually putting this promise into practice in the case of Carano, who turned to them for help.
The necessary funds to actually bring the matter to court and settle it there are therefore well provided for. It just remains to be seen how the disputes ultimately turn out.
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