Summary
- Gina Carano has filed a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm, claiming unfair dismissal for expressing her political opinions and other deemed unacceptable comments.
- Carano argues that she was subjected to a bullying smear campaign and her words were twisted to make her an example of an alt-right extremist, despite never using aggressive language.
- Elon Musk’s X platform funded Carano’s legal case after she responded to his tweet offering support to those who were fired for freely expressing their opinions on the platform.
Gina Carano’s controversial firing from The Mandalorian has entered a new arena, with the actress now taking Disney and Lucasfilm to court with a financial boost from Elon Musk’s X.
Three years on from her sacking, Carano has filed a lawsuit claiming unfair dismissal for expressing an opinion on the political climate of America, and other comments that were deemed unacceptable by her then employers. In a lengthy statement on her X account, Canaro explained why she is now moving ahead with the suit. After recalling the statement released by Lucasfilm at the time, in which it noted that she was no longer employed by the company for her “denigrating” social media posts, the actress wrote:
Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is I was being hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time. My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist. It was a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me.
The thing is I never even used aggressive language. I shared thought provoking quotes, pictures, memes & occasionally I used my own words, not with aggression but with respect & the occasional comedy to keep the mood light in dark times.
Canaro continued to list many of the reasons that had been given for her firing, including examples of some of the topics she had openly discussed that had been deemed inappropriate and ultimately led to her firing. However, she went on to note that while her personal opinions were constantly put under scrutiny, this was not the case for her male costars. She added:
Hollywood says they support female representation & equal rights. Why then were my male co-stars permitted to speak without harassment & re-education courses or termination, but I was not afforded the same right to exercise my freedom of speech.
Gina Carano Pays Tribute to Carl Weathers, Recalls His Support Following Her Mandalorian Firing
Gina Carano shared a tribute to Carl Weathers following his passing, reminiscing about his support following her firing from The Mandalorian.
How Elon Musk is Funding Gina Carano’s Disney Lawsuit?
After three years, there is a question as to why Canaro has chosen to take the House of Mouse and Lucasfilm to court now, and that all comes down to a tweet from Elon Musk in which he offered to personally fund legal cases for anyone who has been sacked from their job due to freely expressing their opinions on the X platform. She explained:
“A couple months ago @ElonMusk tweeted that if you had been fired from using the platform (X) for exercising your right to free speech, he would like to offer these people legal representation. Quite the noble offer, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought anyone would take on my case against Lucasfilm/Disney. Still, I did respond back “I think I qualify” & thousands of people agreed–but I did not expect anything.
To my surprise, a few months ago I received an email from a lawyer who had been hired by X to look into my story & many others. Turns out after sending them as much information as I could gather these past few months, my now lawyers & X believe whole-heartedly in my case & are moving forward.”
Carano ended her post by thanking those who have supported her, and thanked Musk for giving her the chance to clear her name against the stigma of the accusations made by Disney and Lucasfilm.
As per Deadline, the lawsuit itself leans heavily into the terminology of the Star Wars franchise, with an introduction that reads:
“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. And so it was with Carano. After two highly acclaimed seasons on The Mandalorian as Rebel ranger Cara Dune, Carano was terminated from her role as swiftly as her character’s peaceful home planet of Alderaan had been destroyed by the Death Star in an earlier Star Wars film. And all this because she dared voice her own opinions, on social media platforms and elsewhere, and stood up to the online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology.”
You can read the entire lawsuit, as shared by Deadline, in full here.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
