
Fighter-turned-actress Gina Carano landed a prominent role in the Star Wars-based Disney series “The Mandalorian” but was fired in 2021 after sharing a social media post interpreted by some to be antisemitic.
This week, she announced a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company claiming that she was wrongfully terminated and lost millions of dollars in potential income as a result. In a lengthy post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she responded to a post in which the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, inquired about individuals who had been fired for exercising their free speech thereon.
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
Though she “did not expect anything” to come from her reply, she said she was surprised to hear from lawyers working on behalf of X who said they would take on her case against Disney.
The resulting lawsuit parodies the iconic “Star Wars” introduction, asserting: “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.”
Referencing Carano’s case specifically, the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, asserts that she was targeted for “refusing to support movements and ideologies with which she did not agree.”
Despite the personal toll that the situation has taken on her, attorneys confirmed that she remains determined to fight back against the powerful entertainment titan.
“But the rule of law still reigns over the Defendants’ empire,” they wrote. “And Carano has returned to demand that they be held accountable for their bullying, discriminatory, and retaliatory actions — actions that inflicted not only substantial emotional harm but millions of dollars in lost income.”
Reports indicate the goal of this action is, in part, to compel Disney to rehire Carano to the role from which she was fired.
X confirmed its role in the lawsuit with a statement emphasizing its “commitment to free speech.”
The company went on to assert: “The online platform is proud to provide financial support for Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination.”