Actress and former MMA fighter Gina Carano is going after her former employer for wrongful termination over social media posts and she’s getting help from free speech advocate and owner of the social media platform, X, Elon Musk.
Carano, who played fan favorite Cara Dune on the first two seasons of the Disney+ streaming show The Mandalorian, is seeking $75,000 in damages and is asking the court to force Lucasfilm to recast her.
The lawsuit is going forward with financial backing from Elon Musk.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in California, Carano alleges Disney and Lucasfilm wrongfully terminated her in 2021 from “The Mandalorian,” a television series inspired by the Star Wars franchise, over her social-media posts and the ensuing backlash…
..Carano said Disney and Lucasfilm also sexually discriminated against her by holding her to different standards compared with male actors, according to the lawsuit.
Disney and Lucasfilm didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Carano said X is assisting with the lawsuit. Musk has said X would fund lawsuits of people who claim they were unfairly fired for their posts on the social-media platform.
Source: Wall Street Journal (archived)
After purchasing Twitter to protect free speech, Musk posted a tweet that he would fund lawsuits for people who were fired for social media posts on his platform with “no limit.”
If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.
No limit.
Please let us know.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
He followed up the tweet by saying that his legal team would “be extremely loud” and “go after the boards of directors of companies” as well.
And we won’t just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
Carano, who was fired for her posts on Twitter, quote-tweeted Musk saying, “I think I qualify” along with a smiling blushing emoji.
I think I qualify. ☺️ https://t.co/t2MryUFLtS
— Gina Carano 🕯 (@ginacarano) August 6, 2023
She had clearly intended her post to be a joke, but it received 81k likes and she was later contacted by lawyers just as Elon promised.
Carano appeared on Jesse Watters’ show to talk about the lawsuit.
Actress @ginacarano has sued Disney and Lucasfilm with the help of @elonmusk after she was fired in 2021 over a social media post.
“If this can happen to me, this can happen to anyone…I really applaud Elon Musk and X for championing me in this lawsuit.” pic.twitter.com/iyXkVaiKPR
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) February 7, 2024
Hours earlier, Carano had posted the news of the lawsuit on X thanking Elon Musk for honoring his word.
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
Here is what she wrote in full:
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 Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm & there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural & religious identities are abhorrent & unacceptable.”
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.
Look with your own eyes at what I posted and ask yourself, for example, where did I compare Republicans to the Jewish people in the holocaust? I didn’t. Ask yourself why they were calling me a racist, was there any merit behind that or history of it whatsoever? No. Look at why I was called a transphobe–for making droid noises from Star Wars? “Beep, bop, boop” was obviously directed to the online bullies and did not in any way denigrate transgender people.
Were my questions about masks, lockdowns & forced vaccines ok to ask & push the subject into the light? Should we have been allowed to publicly discuss those topics at that time without being harassed or censored? Absolutely.
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.
Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment. I have spoken to all my co-stars since I was fired & there is nothing but care and kind words between us. I respect their right to free speech & do not have to think the same on every issue to be their friends & work with them & I know they feel the same towards me.
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.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude & thank you to @ElonMusk & @X for giving me an opportunity to bring my case to light.
As for me, I would love to pick up where I left off & continue my journey of creating & participating in story-telling, which is my utmost passion & everything I worked so hard for. It has been difficult to move forward with the lies & labels stuck on me, backed & encouraged by the most powerful entertainment company in the world. I am grateful someone has come to my defense in such a powerful way & look forward to clearing my name.
Thank you to all the people who have supported me & made your voices heard. I pray God blesses each & every one of you.
With love,
Gina Carano
The lawsuit puts Disney between a rock and a hard place — settle for the very moderate damages Carano is asking for and recast her … which would force them to admit that they were wrong, (a fate worse than death, I’m sure,) or fight it in court at an exponentially higher cost and no guarantee that they’d win.
It’s gotta suck to be in the executive offices of Disney right now.
Disney has been having a tough time ever since the Zoom videos leaked in 2022 confirming the studio is pushing LGBTQ+ and woke ideology into their children’s programming with one employee admitting to inserting her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” into children’s shows.
SCOOP: I’ve obtained video from inside Disney’s all-hands meeting about the Florida parental rights bill, in which executive producer Latoya Raveneau says her team has implemented a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” and is regularly “adding queerness” to children’s programming. pic.twitter.com/eJnZMpKIXT
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
Since that leak, they’ve lost their special status in the state of Florida, had millions of people chose to unsubscribe, and have become a laughingstock and an embodiment of “go woke, go broke”. Even their big name franchises like Marvel are doing embarrassingly poorly at the box office, but they’re still doubling-down on “woke.”
That prompted merciless mockery on South Park.
In October, Daily Wire launched their own non-woke app filled with kids programming, and announced a new live-action Snow White after Disney’s version was criticized because of veering from the storyline, what appeared to be weird, normal-sized dwarfs, and lead actress Rachel Zegler’s disdain for the original story. Disney was shamed into delaying the release until 2025 and reassuring the few fans left that the dwarfs would be CGI.
And then 2024 hit.
It looks like all of that mess was just the beginning.
First, the copyright on Steamboat Willie expired prompting a flood of cheesy, independent horror films starring the iconic black and white version of Mickey.
Here’s just one trailer:
First trailer for ‘MICKEY’S MOUSE TRAP’.
Expected to release in March. pic.twitter.com/EEViWG1i8U
— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) January 2, 2024
That’s pretty bad. But not as bad as facing Elon Musk’s lawyer for wrongful termination of an actress for social media posts.
Well, Disney, you had a pretty good run. But it looks like it’s time for something non-woke.
Maybe Elon will have a role in that, too…
An anonymous source just sent me this from Disney. It is mandatory, institutionalized racism and sexism! pic.twitter.com/npMy8YfA1j
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2024
🤔
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2024
