Following a recent ruling that actress Gina Carano’s lawsuit against Disney and LucasFilm will be allowed to proceed, here’s everything you need to know about what led to the case in the first place.
Essentially, it’s a wrongful termination suit.
Carano, who played Alderaanian warrior Cara Dune on the first two series of Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian, was fired by LucasFilm after allegations of antisemitism due to a post that appeared to compare being a Republican to being Jewish during the holocaust.
The post, which was shared to her Instagram story, 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 realise that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbours hate them simply for being Jews.
“How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
Her words were condemned by LucasFilm as being “abhorrent and unacceptable”, with a spokesperson announcing that Carano would no longer be employed by the company in the future – and therefore would be booted from The Mandalorian.
Carano then sued Disney and LucasFilm for wrongful termination, claiming that the companies had violated California labour laws prohibiting employers from policing the political views of their employees and reprimanding them based on their political speech.
She also accused them of defaming her for “refusing to conform with their viewpoints on issues relating to Black Lives Matter, preferred pronouns and disproven claims of election interference,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The former MMA star was accused of “mocking trans people” in September 2020 after adding “boop/bop/beep”” to her Twitter profile in place of pronouns.
She said fellow Mandalorian actor Pedro Pascal, who is a firm LGBTQ+ ally and fully supported his sister when she came out as trans, helped her “understand why people were putting them [pronouns] in their bios”. Carano insisted at the time she wouldn’t be putting her pronouns in her bio and painted it as a “stand against bullying”.
In February 2021, she said that Disney asked her to issue an apology they had written in the wake of the Twitter scandal. When Carano refused to use the pre-written apology, she claims that Disney retaliated.
Carano said: “Earlier on last year before The Mandalorian came out, they wanted me to use their exact wording for an apology over pronoun usage.
“I declined and offered a statement in my own words. I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with mocking the transgender community and was just drawing attention to the abuse of the mob in forcing people to put pronouns in their bio.”
Gina Carano is supported by Elon Musk
Carano’s lawsuit is being funded by Elon Musk, the owner of X, with the actor claiming in a statement: “My words were consistently twisted to demonise and dehumanise me as an alt-right-wing extremist. I am honoured that my case has been chosen to be supported by the company that has been one of the last glimmers of hope for free speech in the world.”
Disney’s lawyers are arguing that the First Amendment right to free speech allows private companies to sever ties with employees who don’t share the company’s values publicly.
Disney’s lawyer cited two previous cases in which an organisation or company were found to have been able to “exclude a message that it did not like” as that fell within its “right as a private speaker to shape its expression by speaking on one subject by remaining silent”.
It further claims that the First Amendment allows Disney to protect its intellectual property, Star Wars, from being associated with views that it and many viewers would consider offensive and contrary to its message and values – which include respect, integrity, and inclusion.
“The messenger is part of the message,” the lawyer said.
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