Gina Carano Breaks Her Silence on 'Mandalorian' Firing, Disney Lawsuit

Gina Carano's unceremonious exit from The Mandalorian sparked a lot of debate, with the actress recently filing a lawsuit against Disney over her firing. Now, Carano has broken her silence on the matter, telling The Hollywood Reporter that she "laid down and cried and cried," when she got the news.

"I curled into a fetal position," Carano continued. "It's not that I didn't think that something like that could happen. It was that I couldn't imagine they would put out this horrendous statement about me after working with me – the most powerful entertainment company in the world saying that about me."

In 2021, Carano took to social media to share a graphic Holocaust-era photograph and wrote, "Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children." She continued, "Because history is edited, most people today don't realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?"

The since-deleted post, as well as Carano having "boop/bop/beep" in her Twitter bio as an indication of her pronouns — which many took as ridicule against the LGBTQ+ community — led to Disney firing her from The Mandalorian.

Fast forward to February 2024, it was revealed that Carano filed a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm, alleging discrimination and wrongful termination. She also confirmed to THR that Elon Musk — Tesla founder and owner of the X social media site (formerly Twitter) — is covering her legal costs. 

Carano admitted that she hasn't communicated directly with Musk since her complaint was filed last month, but it has been "pretty incredible" that he's been willing to help with the financial costs of her court battle. She also claimed Musk is "using his money to fight massive injustice battles."

Speaking about the aftermath of her firing, Carano said, "You become unhirable. And then it becomes OK for other people to disrespect you. And then you're just carrying around this disrespect, and you're shouldering all this shame, and it affects your physicality, your mentality. You're just kind of hopeless. So to be able to fight back – it makes me feel like, 'OK. That feels good.' "

Carano says she was particularly frustrated by the Twitter bio controversy, as she says the "boop/bop/beep" was meant to be "cute, like R2-D2." In response, Lucasfilm and Disney allegedly had the actress participate in, what she refers to as, a "reeducation camp" with GLAAD representatives, as well as by media training.

"Boop/bop/beep? Seriously?" Carano said to THR. "This was the start of the end for me? A 20-year career, the blood, sweat and tears of fighting? I never compromised myself for a job. I never ended in a bad situation where I did anything inappropriate. I had a clean and clear climb to where I got to and was going to just keep going. And boop/bop/beep was that harmful?

"You won't find a perfect person in me, but you will find a person who was doing her absolute best under one of the most aggressive unnecessary cancellations in Hollywood history," Carano added. "This has been one of the toughest growth spurts of my life and I don't plan on wasting what I have learned... I'm thinking about clearing my name. I'm thinking about finally being healthier and having this monkey off my back and telling my story and just getting on with my life. Finally."