Gina Carano Sues Disney Over ‘Mandalorian’ Firing

Actress Gina Carano filed a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm on Tuesday, claiming that she was fired from The Mandalorian due to political discrimination. The 41-year-old played the character Cara Dune, but was fired in February of 2021 for “social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities.” In a lawsuit obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Carano is seeking a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her.

Carano filed her lawsuit in a California federal court, with her legal bill covered by billionaire Elon Musk. The filing claims that Lucasfilm’s firing also constituted harassment and defamation of Carano. It also accuses the company of conducting a “post-termination smear campaign,” saying that there was a concerted “effort to malign” her. She also blames Disney’s actions for getting her dropped by her talent agency UTA and her transactional lawyer.

Carano joined the cast of The Mandalorian in 2018 and the posts that got her fired were made mostly in late 2020 and early 2021 on Instagram and Twitter – the platform now known as X. She mocked Black Lives Matters protesters and transgender people. She also post anti-mask content and conspiracy theories about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. In one post, she wrote that “hating someone for their political views” is no different than the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust, alongside a shocking photo from the Lviv pogroms. This was the final straw that led to her termination.

Carano’s lawsuit argues that these were expressions of legitimate political, religious and cultural beliefs, and that it was hypocritical of Disney to fire her but not others who share their political commentary online. Her prime example was a 2017 post where her co-star, Pedro Pascal, compared then-President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. She once again made the case that people with conservative views have been persecuted, saying in a statement: “Some of us have been unjustly singled out, harassed, persecuted and had our livelihoods stripped away because we dared to encourage conversation, asked questions, and refused to go along with the mob.”

Carano is taking up X’s Elon Musk on his open offer to cover the legal fees for anyone who feels they were discriminated against for their conduct on his platform. Musk has also been criticized for sharing conspiracy theories and insensitive posts on the platform. However, because most workers in the private sector are “at-will employees,” legal experts question how many of these cases might be successful.

Carano is seeking to be recast in the Star Wars franchise and at least $75,000, plus punitive damages. So far, Disney has not responded publicly to this lawsuit. The Mandalorian is streaming now on Disney+.