Gina Carano is suing Disney and Lucasfilm over her termination from the Star Wars programme The Mandalorian.
In 2021, Lucasfilm revealed Gina’s departure from the character of Cara Dune.
‘Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,’ it read.
‘Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.’
The 41-year-old actor has now stated on X (previously Twitter) that ‘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,’ she claimed.
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
‘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.’
In the long statement, Carano also revealed that Elon Musk, the owner of X, had sponsored the case.
‘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.
‘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.’
The lawsuit claims wrongful termination and discrimination, and seeks a minimum of $75,000 in punitive damages, as well as her recasting in the programme, which also stars Pedro Pascal.
Carano’s repost on Instagram stories read: ‘Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children.
‘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?’
In her recent statement, the former MMA fighter said: ‘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.’
The lawsuit features references to Star Wars, with the introduction reading: ‘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.’
Carano made her last appearance in 2020 as the character in the second season, having first joined the cast in 2019.