Actor and former professional MMA fighter Gina Carano has sued The Walt Disney Co. and Lucasfilm over claims she was wrongfully fired from the series “The Mandalorian” in 2021.
In the suit, which was filed Tuesday in federal court in California, Carano alleges she was fired from her role as rebel warrior Cara Dune for voicing right-wing opinions on social media. She is seeking a court order that would require Lucasfilm to reinstate her or compensate her at least $75,000. Carano claims in the suit that she suffered emotional damage and lost millions of dollars in income.
“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,” the lawsuit says. “And so it was with Carano.”
X is helping cover the costs of the lawsuit, Carano confirmed Tuesday in a post to the social media platform.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude & thank you to @ElonMusk & @X for giving me an opportunity to bring my case to light,” she wrote.
In the post, Carano denied that her past posts should be seen as controversial and said she her former employers targeted her as part of a “bullying smear campaign” that was intended to make “an example out of me.”
“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,” Carano wrote. “My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist.”
Following a short but successful career in mixed martial arts, Carano had been a rising star in television and movies when controversy began to swirl. In February 2021, she posted on Instagram likening modern political divides to the Holocaust. She then published a post that appeared to mock people who wore masks during the pandemic. The Instagram post was to the app’s “story” function, which disappears after 24 hours.
Carano’s social media postings had previously sparked some scrutiny. In 2020, she appeared to suggest there was voter fraud during the presidential election in a post to X (then Twitter). In another post around that time, she appeared to mock transgender people by putting “beep/bop/boop” in her X profile after fans asked her to display her pronouns in her account’s bio.
Gene Schaerr, Carano’s attorney, said in a statement that Disney “bullied Ms. Carano, trying to force her to conform to their views about cultural and political issues, and when that bullying failed, they fired her.”
Representatives for Musk, Disney and Lucasfilm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Carano and her manager did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
At the time of her firing, Lucasfilm released a statement denouncing her comments.
“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano also claims that Disney and Lucasfilm discriminated against her. The lawsuit cites social media posts from the late actor Carl Weathers, saying male colleagues were not held to similar standards.
“Even though ‘the Force is female,’ Defendants chose to target a woman while looking the other way when it came to men. While Carano was fired, Defendants took no action against male actors who took equally or more vigorous and controversial positions on social media,” the suit claims.
X’s head of business operations, Joe Benarroch, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, which was first to report the news, “As a sign of X Corp’s commitment to free speech, we’re proud to provide financial support for Gina 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.”
The suit comes less than a year after Musk pledged on X that he would pay for any legal case in which a person had been terminated for posting or liking something on his platform.
“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill. No limit. Please let us know,” he wrote. He added later, “And we won’t just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too.”
On Tuesday, Musk shared Carano's post to X announcing the suit and appeared to seek other plaintiffs to join the case.
"Please let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney," he wrote.
“The Mandalorian,” which stars Pedro Pascal in the title role, is available on Disney+. The show debuted its third season last year.
