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Disney Says It Had Every Right to Fire Controversial ‘Mandalorian’ Star

Disney says it had every right to fire Gina Carano
Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

When The Walt Disney Company launched its streaming service, Disney+, it filled the platform with not just classic Disney movies like Cinderella (1950) and Beauty and the Beast (1992). The company also premiered several series created just for Disney+. That included what is not one of its most popular Star Wars shows ever, The Mandalorian. The show starred Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, a Mandalorian tasked with retrieving “The Child”, who he ends up caring for and protecting.

the mandalorian

Credit: Disney

Related: Disney Confirms Mandalorian MOVIE!

The Mandalorian also starred Gina Carano as Cara Dune — a former Rebel shock trooper who became a mercenary after the Galactic Civil War. Cara Dune was one of the show’s main characters and fans were shocked when, after two seasons, Disney fired Carano. They decided to part ways with the former MMA fighter after a series of controversial tweets and Instagram posts. At one point, Carano compared being a Republican with being Jewish in Nazi Germany.

Gina Carano Sues Disney

Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

Related: Gina Carano Calls Being Canceled by Disney “Unnecessary”

In early February 2024, nearly four years after she was fired, Ms. Carano filed a lawsuit against the Mouse House and Lucasfilm, which was purchased by Disney in 2012. Carano is claiming wrongful termination and sexual discrimination. She alleges that Disney fired her because of something she said, violating her right to free speech. She also claims that other stars of the show also made comments, but Disney chose to only punish her. That is where she claims that she suffered from sexual discrimination.

Gina Carano Disney lawsuit

Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

Disney is now fighting back and saying that it had every legal right to terminate Carano. On Tuesday, April 9, Disney filed a motion with the United States District Court of Central California to dismiss Ms. Carano’s lawsuit. In its motion, Disney claims that it had “a constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech.”

While Carano claimed that Disney’s main issue with her was her Holocaust comparison, Disney’s motion said that her comment was simply “the final straw.”

But for Disney, the Nazi post was “the final straw,” according to the company’s motion. The company argued that the post trivialized the Holocaust by referred to “thousands” of Jews, not “millions,” and by likening their experience to those of contemporary conservatives who face scorn on social media.

“Disney had enough,” the motion states.

Cara Dune The Mandalorian

Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

It is also interesting to note that, in its motion to dismiss, Disney supported its argument by citing a law article review and commentary written by one of Carano’s OWN LAWYERS. That lawyer is Eugene Volokh, who wrote the review in 2022,  said the following:

“Employers that speak must necessarily speak through their employees; and when an employee or prospective employee says things, even off the job, that would undermine the employer’s message, the employer must be able to distance itself from the employee.”

This was Volokh’s opinion after Carano was fired, since he wrote it in 2022 and she was fired by Disney and Lucasfilm in 2021.

Gina Carano

Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

After Disney’s motion became public, Carano took to X (formerly Twitter) to say that Disney’s motion merely confirmed what she already believed. She said that Disney was more than willing to fire actors and try to destroy their careers if they said something Disney did not like.

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.  They are now on record letting everyone who works for them know that Disney will take any chance they get to control what you say, what you think or they will attempt to destroy your career.  Glad we cleared that up.

The First Amendment does not allow Disney to wantonly DISCRIMINATE, which is what they have done in my case and frankly have now admitted they did.  If you ever wanted to know what today’s “Disney values” are, they just told you.

Carano is not fighting Disney and Lucasfilm alone. X CEO Elon Musk announced that he would fund Carano’s lawsuit and give her his full support. Musk has frequently attacked Disney and has said that he will fund any lawsuit against the company when the person wants to fight Disney’s inclusion policies.

Musk has been at odds with Disney for months, and even went so far as to say to Disney CEO Bob Iger, “Go f*** yourself”, when Disney — along with many other companies — pulled its ads from X. The company did so after a report was released saying there had been a massive uptick in antisemitism on the social media platform.

Do you think Disney was in the right? Or are you Team Carano? Let us know in the comments!

About Krysten Swensen

A born and bred New England girl living the Disney life in Southern California. I love to read, to watch The Golden Girls, and love everything to do with Disney and Universal. I also love to share daily doses of Disney on my Disney Instagram @BrazzleDazzleDisney!

3 comments

  1. Of course Disney says they had every right. This has at least two years to run before any attorney on either side would think of any type of settlement. While an employer does have the right to terminate based on behavior it has to be equally enforced. Disney is going to have a rough time showing that. As long as the speech has a certain viewpoint Disney will defend it. Not so much the opposing. They had a weak hook claiming to defend holocaust victims.

  2. Disney is absolutely correct in Firing that disgusting human being. I hope people like her never get a job again.

  3. I love how you showed EXACTLY what she tweeted. Oh wait, you didn’t and made up BS.