By José Antonio Castaneda
06 Feb 2024, 17:42 PM EST
Actress Gina Carano sued the Disney and Lucasfilm companies for unfair dismissal and discrimination, after being fired in 2021 from the series “The Mandalorian.”
The lawsuit, filed in a California court, seeks to have the court force Lucasfilm to rehire Carano and pay at least $75,000 in punitive damages. The actress alleges that her firing was unjustified and that she suffered discrimination due to her political opinions.
Gina Carano, known for playing Cara Dune in the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian,” was fired after sharing a post on Instagram in which she made comparisons between the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust and being a Republican. The controversy led to both Lucasfilm and Carano’s agency at the time, UTA, dropping her on the same day she posted.
Furthermore, Carano accuses Disney and Lucasfilm of imposing a single orthodoxy in thought, speech and action on their empire, showing an intolerance towards those who question or do not fully adhere to their ideals.
The actress also points out the apparent disparity in the treatment of other Star Wars figures, citing previous social media posts by Pedro Pascal and Mark Hamill, in which former President Donald Trump and his followers were compared to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, without financial or professional repercussions.
Businessman Elon Musk is funding the lawsuit, making good on his promise to pay for legal actions taken by people alleging discrimination over posts on Twitter/X. However, the posts in question come from Carano’s Instagram stories.
“As a sign of X Corp.’s commitment to free speech, we are proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, enabling her to seek vindication of her free speech rights in or discrimination,” said Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, in a statement.