Gina Carano wants a jury to recover her work on “Star Wars.”
The former “The Mandalorian” actress filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Walt Disney Co., Lucasfilm and Huckleberry Industries alleging wrongful termination and discrimination over her dismissal from the Disney+ series. Carano, who had played former Rebellion soldier Cara Dune for two seasons on “The Mandalorian,” had come under fire in 2021 for a series of problematic social media posts when Lucasfilm issued a statement that she was no longer an employee of the study.
According to the complaint filed in federal court in California, Carano is seeking more than $75,000 in compensatory damages and to force Lucasfilm to reinstate her as Dune in a jury trial. Elon Musk, through X, the company formerly known as Twitter, is helping finance Carano's lawsuit.
On TuesdayCarano said in a publish in X how a lawyer hired by the social media site approached her about her situation after she responded to one of Musk's posts offering to help those who had lost their jobs due to their activity on the social media platform.
“[A] A few months ago I received an email from a lawyer who had been hired by X to investigate my story and many others,” Carano wrote. “It turns out that after sending them all the information I was able to gather these past few months, my attorneys and X wholeheartedly believe in my case and are moving forward.”
X's head of business operations, Joe Benarroch, said in a press release that included the Hollywood Reporter and Variety that the company was financially supporting Carano's lawsuit “as a sign of X Corp.'s commitment to free speech. .. giving him power to seek vindication.” of their rights to freedom of expression in X and the ability to work without intimidation, harassment or discrimination.”
“Let us know if you want to join the lawsuit against Disney,” Musk added in a publish in X.
In February 2021, Carano shared a since-deleted Instagram post that implied that being conservative today is comparable to being Jewish during the Holocaust. She had also previously come under fire from right-wing publications that falsely claimed that voter fraud affected the results of the 2020 presidential election, mocked mask-wearing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and mocked respect for pronouns. of people.
On more than one occasion, Carano's statements on social media prompted critics to declare her racist or transphobic and demand her dismissal from the series. Others would join her in supporting her and urging people to cancel Disney+.
In response to questions about Carano's status in the “Star Wars” franchise at the time, Lucasfilm issued a statement clarifying that she was “not currently employed” at the studio and that there was “no [were] “There are no plans for her to be in the future.” The company also described Carano's problematic social media posts as “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
But according to Carano, Lucasfilm's 2021 statement was not true because she alleges that she was promised a role in the “Star Wars” spin-off, “Rangers of the New Republic,” which has since been shelved.
Carano and her lawyers claim that the actress was not only fired for her social media posts, but was also “attacked, harassed, publicly humiliated, [and] defamed” for making “political statements that did not align with what [Disney] I believed it was an acceptable point of view.”
The complaint also alleges that Carano was harassed when the company demanded that she publicly apologize after they called her to explain her position and demanded that she meet with GLAAD representatives. It claims Carano was discriminated against because male actors who made left-wing political statements, such as those mocking Republicans, were not subject to the same treatment as Carano.
Disney has not responded to a request for comment.
