Gina Carano, the former MMA star turned actress, is suing Lucasfilm and its parent company Disney, alleging she was wrongfully terminated and discriminated against.
On Tuesday, she filed the lawsuit in federal court in California over her firing from the popular show “The Mandalorian” in 2021. She’s also receiving financial backing from an unlikely source — Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Disney dismissed Carano and wrote her character off the show after she expressed conservative views on social media. She is seeking legal recourse and financial damages in her lawsuit, and she wants to force Lucasfilm to recast her in the show — which is now being made into a feature-length film.
This week, Joe Benarroch, the head of business operations for X, explained the company’s reasoning for helping Carano in her lawsuit when he said:
“We’re proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights.”
The social media post in question was made by Carano in 2021, and compared historical events to modern political discourse. Almost immediately after the posts went live, they received widespread backlash.
Carano has received criticism for her viewpoints before, including railing against many of the mandates put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her support for former President Donald Trump and his fight over alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
In addition to being let go by Lucasfilm, her talent agency, UTA, let her go as well.
Carano responded to all the criticism, trying to clarify what she posted by saying:
“My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt-right wing extremist.”
Her lawsuit states that Lucasfilm and Disney subjected her to harassment as well as defamed her, because she wouldn’t conform to the ideological positions the companies have. She specifically referred to their views on political matters and social justice.
She further alleges that Disney and Lucasfilm exhibited disparate treatment, as Carano says that other male co-stars received no punishment or consequences for what they’ve posted on social media.
For instance, in 2017, co-star Pedro Pascal posted a tweet that compared Trump to Hitler.
The lawsuit drew inspiration from the popular “Star Wars” movie series produced by Lucasfilm and Disney when it wrote:
“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. Carano was terminated from her role as swiftly as her character’s peaceful home planet of Alderaan had been destroyed by the Death Star.”
It further states she was let go from the show because she “dared voice her own opinions” against an “online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extremely progressive ideology.”
The lawsuit seeks compensatory, emotional distress and punitive damages, as well as her being recast in the show.
