Senator Ted Cruz Defends 'Mandalorian' Star Gina Carano, Claims She Made 'Star Wars' Franchise 'Fun Again'

Senator Ted Cruz defended former Mandalorian co-star Gina Carano after Lucasfilm fired her from the Disney+ franchise following her controversial tweets and political statements. Cruz claimed that as an empowered woman on the show, Carano made the Star Wars franchise "fun again." Cruz took to Twitter to complain about Carano being "canceled" by Disney, saying that she "broke barriers" for the sci-fi adventure series by playing Cara Dune, "a woman who kicked ass." Cruz also said that he believes young women "looked up to" Carano because she did not play a "princess," a "victim," or an "emotionally tortured Jedi."

Cruz's tweet is in response to Lucasfilm announcing that Carano does not work for the company any longer, and adding that it unequivocally condemned an anti-semitic social media post she made. "Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future," the statement read, per Deadline. "Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable."

Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked ass & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney canceled her.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 11, 2021

In the since-deleted post, Carano shared a graphic image from the WWII-era, 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 post sparked massive backlash, with many calling for Carano to be fired. Notably, Lucasfilm seemed to indicate that she already was not signed onto appear in any more Star Wars projects at the time the post was shared.

Cruz's defense of Carano has created a controversy itself, with many Twitter users seeming to question why the sitting Texas senator would defend anti-semitic ideology. MSNBC producer and journalist Kyle Griffin replied to Cruz and stated that Carano's post "compared Republicans to Holocaust victims." He then asked, "Does the senator support that comparison?" At this time it appears that neither Cruz nor his staff has issued a reply to Griffin's inquiry.