Texas-born actress and former mixed martial artist Gina Carano played the character Cara Dune on the hit Disney series “The Mandalorian,” providing the franchise with a genuinely strong female protagonist.
The House of Mouse, which has long tolerated extreme rhetoric and controversial views from its liberal talent, proved unwilling to permit Carano’s expression of mainline conservative views during the pandemic, giving her the boot.
No shrinking violet, Carano fought back against the corporate giant. On Thursday, she was rewarded for her perseverance.
How it started
In February 2021 — following the conclusion of the second season of “The Mandalorian” — Lucasfilm canned the actress, letting her find out herself from second-hand sources.
“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 obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
In previous months, Carano enraged LGBT radicals by jokingly stating her pronouns were “beep/bop/boop,” enraged Covidians with her criticism of pandemic mask policies, and enraged Democrats by urging for voter ID laws.
However, the straw that broke the mouse’s back was Carano’s social media post pointing out parallels between COVID authoritarianism and the rise of Nazi Germany and the worsening political climate.
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Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors … even by children,” the post said. “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. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
‘They will fire you if you say anything they disagree with, even if they have to MISREPRESENT, MALIGN, and MISCHARACTERIZE you to do it.’
While Carano’s post was characterized as “abhorrent” and unwarranted, she was writing around the time that polling showed that 45% of Democrats supported throwing the unvaccinated into camps and that 48% of Democrats supported federal or state governments fining or imprisoning Americans who questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines on social media, TV, radio, or in digital publications.
Responding to Lucasfilm’s claims about her “denigrating posts,” Carano said in a February 2024 statement,
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.
After noting further that “artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment,” Carano announced that she had taken up Elon Musk’s offer of legal support for those fired over lawful exercises of free speech.
Carano sued Disney in early 2024 for alleged wrongful termination and sex discrimination.
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Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
When Disney tried in April 2024 to throw out the lawsuit, Carano put them on blast, writing, “Disney has confirmed what has been known all along, they will fire you if you say anything they disagree with, even if they have to MISREPRESENT, MALIGN, and MISCHARACTERIZE you to do it.”
How it turned out
Hours after writing, “The truth will set you free,” Carano announced on Thursday evening that she had come to an agreement with Disney/Lucasfilm, suggesting it “is the best outcome for all parties involved.”
In addition to thanking Elon Musk — “a man I’ve never met, who did this Good Samaritan deed for me in funding my lawsuit” — the actress expressed gratitude to her lawyers, her supporters, and God.
“I am excited to flip the page and move onto the next chapter. My desires remain in the arts, which is where I hope you will join me,” added Carano.
A Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement to Variety, “The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Gina Carano to resolve the issues in her pending lawsuit against the companies. Ms. Carano was always well-respected by her directors, co-stars and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect.”
“With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future,” added the spokesperson.
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