I’m not sure when Gina Carano started saying and tweeting offensive crap, but people really began to take notice of it last year, when Carano’s role in The Mandalorian became a fan-favorite, and thus, the spotlight on Carano got a lot bigger. Last year, she was making fun of trans-inclusionary language and she criticized… mask-wearing protocols in a deadly pandemic. Around the election and after the election, she was absolutely tweeting out MAGA-adjacent sh-t, and then last week, she posted this disgustingly convoluted thing about how Republicans are being treated like Jewish people during the Holocaust. That was the final domino – Disney and Lucasfilm said “enough” and they fired her outright. Her agents dropped her too. Carano instantly became a cause célèbre among fascists and Nazis, and she will probably spend the rest of her career making sad-clown MAGA films with Kirk Cameron. The Hollywood Reporter has a new story about what was happening behind-the-scenes – go here to read the full piece. Some highlights:
Disney knew Carano was a MAGA loose cannon last year: In Carano’s case, the move to cut ties had been brewing for some time. In the months leading up to Disney’s investor day presentation Dec. 10, Carano’s agents at UTA were negotiating for the actress to receive a sizable bump for a planned spinoff of Disney+’s The Mandalorian that was to star her fan-favorite character, Cara Dune. The actress, who sources say made $25,000 to $50,000 per episode of The Mandalorian, was poised to be touted during the presentation, in which Kathleen Kennedy announced 10 new Star Wars shows, including Rangers of the New Republic, a series that seemed tailor-made for Carano. But Carano was nowhere to be found during the lengthy presentation.
Disney knew by December that they couldn’t do a spinoff with her: “She was originally in that presentation when they announced all those things, and they pulled her off of it,” a source tells The Hollywood Reporter. A Lucasfilm source counters that Carano was never officially part of the Dec. 10 presentation and no negotiations for future work had taken place.
Disney is now being accused of pandering to the left? “I don’t know what people at Disney personally believe or don’t believe with regard to politics, but as a corporate entity, they want to stay as trouble-free as possible. And anything that’s going to offend the left is a problem,” says crisis PR rep Juda Engelmayer. “I have clients who are making an extraordinary effort to post what the social left wants to see.”
This wasn’t on Jon Favreau: The decision to banish Carano from the Disney kingdom went higher than Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau and was made by Lucasfilm executives. Carano, sources say, had repeatedly been warned by those around her about her social media behavior, with the actress even noting publicly in September that her Mandalorian co-star Pedro Pascal, who has a trans sibling, educated her about the use of pronouns after a social media flare-up. “She knew it was going to alarm people,” says one person in her orbit of her recent posts. “Why would you put Favreau in that position?”
No more Cara Dune action figures: Carano’s ouster had a domino effect, with Hasbro ending production on its popular Cara Dune action figures. (Hasbro says there are “no current plans to create more” Dune products.) Amazon appears to have pulled most of its Cara Dune toy merchandise. When asked why, an Amazon rep declined further comment. Meanwhile, the Dune action figures are seeing brisk sales on eBay at prices well above the original list prices.
Will Cara Dune be recast? Insiders say Cara Dune wasn’t part of the Star Wars series next up, a Boba Fett spinoff, but expect that the character will be recast down the road, for both story and merchandising reasons. A source at Lucasfilm says that a recasting is not expected, however.
Lucasfilm is trying to do better: Carano’s firing comes at an inflection point for Lucasfilm, which was previously criticized for not more strongly defending Star Wars sequel trilogy stars John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran from racist bullying online over the years. On Jan. 23, the company signaled a shift when it put out a statement of support for Krystina Arielle, the host of The High Republic Show, after she was subject to racist bullying and threats.
I guess I have to give props to the Lucasfilm or Disney executive who kept his ear to the ground on social media last year and realized that Carano was a disaster waiting to happen. It feels like her spinoff was going to happen as late as November or the first week in December, but then executives were like “you know what, let’s wait on this.” And I’ve seen, on Deuxmoi, much of the same stuff about Favreau’s role in this, which THR reports here – I heard that Favreau wasn’t happy with Carano’s sh-t and that Disney executives were well aware, and there were high-level discussions about Carano and around/including Carano. She was clearly told to tone it down and not be so f–king offensive and deranged online. Oh well. Now she gets to cry about her FREEDUMB to literal Nazis.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
She was warned before. She continued. From an employment standpoint, THAT’s what matters. Her anti-Semitic and transphobic comments create a hostile work environment that exposes the employer to liability on discrimination claims from other employees. They pursued progressive discipline, the warnings, as most employment contracts require. She didn’t learn and kept at it. Three strikes, you’re out. Disney wasn’t going to risk discrimination lawsuits from other employees for her.
I prefer this explanation over the “people are feeling a lot of pressure to cater to the social left” bs. If we’re going to put little labels on each party’s social belief systems how about the “social don’t give a shit about anyone but myself party” and the “social care about other humans party”?
People are feeling a lot of pressure to post what the people who care about other humans want to see – and to not appear that they dont’ give a shit about anyone but themselves.
Magas are consistently aggressively ignorant. It’s exhausting.
Yup. Where else do you get warnings and continue your behavior and…not lose your job? Doesn’t happen anywhere else, idk why she thought that would happen here.
A lot of individuals seem to conflate their professional position with that of an activist or politician. Newsflash: you’re neither. You’re working in a specific environment governed by a contract you have to adhere to…or you’ll lose your job.
It’s amazing that celebrities refuse to learn from what happened to Roseanne Barr, among others.
And it’s amazing that MAGA supporters are up in arms over this, when the GOP’s entire employment position has been and is “no unions, employers get all the power and can fire you at will.”
What an idiot, giving up an amazing opportunity so she can tweet about her freedumb to be a terrible person. So glad Disney dumped her.
Proves yet again MAGAs being their own worst enemy.
I don’t agree with this lady and had never heard of her (and wouldn’t have seen this movie either way.) I don’t quite get how Disney thinks they are some kind of moral authority. Remember Mulan like 6 months ago? They did not care what the Chinese star said against the Hong Kong protesters. And they thanked the province responsible for the concentration camps. Now that star even has an LV campaign
Your boss can be shitty and still fire you for engaging in repeated shitty behavior you were told to stop. I don’t think they’re claiming the moral high ground, just taking necessary action toward an employee who made them look bad and refused to stop.
it is not about moral authority, it is about the bottom line. Tolerating this type of behavior opens you up to discrimination lawsuits from the people working for you. Especially if you have been warned. Sounds like they were doing progressive discipline and this lady did not stop. Sort of like thumbing your nose at your boss. We don’t know that the Mulan actress was not warned. I think not agreeing with protesters is a little different from spouting out racist and sexist crap.
“it is not about moral authority, it is about the bottom line. “
Exactly. They ran the “numbers” and the cost of keeping her was higher than the value she added. I think folks need to understand what comes out of Hollywood is less “morals and principles” and more “market research”.
People forget too that of the 16 episodes of the Mandalorian we have had, she’s only been in six of them (with a one-scene cameo in a seventh). Some of these stories try to paint her as a co-lead. She wasn’t. Not at all. It’s not a massive change in production if she’s gone.
So she was warned and doubled down anyway. It seemed like she was deliberately trolling. Why take such a lucrative opportunity and use it to denigrate others? How many more times would they have to tell her? What if she kept up with her crappy transphobic comments , and the star Pascal quit and sued Disney for a hostile work environment? This especially after he told her of his sister being transgender and trying to talk to her about it. This is not just about enforcing or imposing some moral code, but she is opening them up to a lawsuit and making herself, rather than the show, the focus. She had a really good job, but didn’t respect the people or company she worked with enough to tone it down. When I freelance, I sign NDAs for the company I work with, and I don’t post things in my social media that will disparage them or their brand directly. I’m sure Ben Shapiro will really unleash her creative spark. She can play Marjorie Taylor Greene in revisionist Capitol coup movie where Trump saves the republic from truth, voters, democracy and the left🙄.
It’s plain and simple anti-discrimination employment law as codified in the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Carano put Disney at risk for liability for lawsuits from other employees in the statutorily protected classes (race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, religion, veteran status) she attacked. She did so repeatedly despite progressive discipline. The other actress may also have been warned, you don’t know that, but being a protester is not a statutorily protected class under the EEOA. Political views do not raise a person to protected status under anti-discrimination employment laws.
Agree. Disney is a large global corporation. They probably deal with dozens of lawsuits every day having to do with employee issues, where either the employee is wrong, or they have been wronged by Disney. However, someone this prominent and visible, is problematic when, right, now Disney + and this franchise is a big success in a bad year for Disney. Parks are shut down, people aren’t traveling or cruises are grounded, and movie theaters are closed. She was messing with their image, upsetting the crew and actors, which affects their image and money.
I just want to point out that knowledge of the existence of these camps in Xinjiang is much more tentative (I know they exist and am not trying to dispute that). There’s been a flat denial from the Chinese government, and information has trickled out slowly. It’s an ongoing situation with a lot of geopolitical nuances. Until recently, I doubt the province of Xinjiang was on any American’s radar. China is foreign in many, many aspects. As a case in point, it is certainly not Xinjiang province itself that has originated these abuses; it is the CCP in Beijing. By that rationale, no Hollywood studio should cooperate with Chinese ones.
Whereas the Holocaust (anti-semitism), etc. — these are long-established historical episodes that we all learn about from elementary school onward. We’re all crystal clear on the basics of WWII and the moral positions that emerged from the conflict; the US has built a global order around them. We’re all supposed to be at least vaguely informed on the propaganda as well as our own lengthy history of racist/xenophobic/etc. propaganda. I’ve read plenty of middle school history textbooks and no matter how whitewashed they are, this is there. It’s part of the curriculum. So there’s just no excuse for her behavior and I can see why Disney would act in this situation, but be more reluctant to do so with the Mulan (which would come with very high costs=the Chinese moviegoing audience).
Likewise with Hong Kong. While disappointing, I can understand why Disney would not want to act. The amount of Chinese propaganda around the situation has blurred the waters (whereas on the ground, there is certainly moral clarity). It’s hard to know from afar what to think. If you live there, you know the situation. But I’m not surprised if other countries or these companies do not.
You put into words what I was feeling on a very complicated subject. Totally agreed.
+1
Disney does what Disney pleases. I’m amazed that there seems to some sort of “win” in a random actress getting fired because of wrong thoughts. There’s clearly no universal rules of conduct applied to everyone. See also James Gunn.
Stupid is as stupid does.
A. – Good riddance to Gina Carano
B. – It doesn’t sound optimistic, but I really wish Disney could keep the Cara Dune character and re-cast her! It was so great to see a big, buff, ass-kicking lady on screen.
Agreed. I would actually like to see a strong recasting (but it’s likely too messy). The character had a really really good backstory, and one of my frustrations I had this season was realizing she just wasn’t anywhere near a good enough actress for them to do something meaningful with it.
“It was so great to see a big, buff, ass-kicking lady on screen.”
I totally agree. I’m hoping they can find a similarly built woman who isn’t a bigot, and who can actually act. I found it so refreshing that they cast a person who LOOKED like a former Trooper/soldier to play the role.
Love them both, but it’s hard for me to see someone like Jolie or Theron in an ass-kicking role since they’re both so lean. I mean, you can “buff up” a bit like Linda Hamilton did in T2, but Carano LOOKED like a tough soldier.
Exactly! So many times the actresses are still so lean and, tbh, it’s not realistic. Linda Hamilton was so great in T2 but I hope Hollywood can lean more into casting strong women of all body types.
They found Mercedes Varnado in the WWE, there are a bunch more women like her in those ranks: Physical presence with at least some ability to read lines while performing and executing fight choreography.
If they actually make it a priority to cast women with that body type, I think they’ll find plenty who are interested in acting. Professional wrestling has a number of performers who are conventionally attractive, charismatic, and used to being on camera. There’s also a whole world of high school and college athletes out there, some of whom would show up at a casting call and some of whom would have acting talent or experience.
That PR rep is framing this wrong – she don’t get it. It’s not about “the left”. It’s about who is consuming your product. Guess what? It ain’t 70 yo white MAGA’s tearing themselves away from Tucker Carlson to catch up on the latest Disney+ offering. So Disney knows their consumer, any surprise? They should.
Would the WB knew theirs! The Flash is one of my favorite characters (not as played by Ezra, just the character itself), and I can’t go see the new film when it comes out because of their cluster-f around Ray Fisher. Because I care, and I’m not watching Tucker Carlson I’m looking for good content. I’m also a Disney+ subscriber. And I’m probably in the eldest demo of theirs. This is all BS.
And Carano is such a fool. All she had to do was shut up, can you imagine? She had it made. I guess hate really is that strong.
Darla, she didn’t even have to shut up; she just needed to leave bigotry out of her political comments.
The part of this article that sticks out for me “she knew it was going to alarm people. Why put Favreau in that position?” Seriously, some people thought THAT about her vile comments. It puts the white guy in an awkward position. Sigh.
In any other circumstance I feel like conservatives would be totally down for this firing b/c employers rights or whatever. She created a hostile work environment for the start of the show who had a trans family member, was warned about her behavior, then moved onto anti-semitism. Black letter employment law but I guess we gotta have that sweet sweet cognitive dissonance.
That’s a good point. Conservatives are totally fine with firing employees because they are gay (or another flavor of LGBTQ) but firing someone because they’re a bigot? Nah, that’s a stretch too far.
The comment about the “social left” is ridiculous. Why has being a caring, decent human being (or not being one) become a political statement? She was being a jerk, she was told not to be a jerk, and she decided to go with being a jerk. I’m not sure why people are choosing to be hateful and say it’s their freedom of speech.
yeah, the GOP/right/conservatives keep telling on themselves.
“She was fired for being a conservative!”
No, she was fired for posting transphobic and other bigoted speech. is THAT what “conservatism” is?…thanks for finally admitting it.
Yup exactly.
This was a capitalistic decision by a capitalist company to cease working with a woman who might harm their bottom line. It’s hardly pandering. The right, which loves at will employment, should be praising Disney.
The right thinks it can cancel Mickey Mouse. Seriously. Carano knows she made a huge career blunder, and this stuff about “the social left” is trying to shame Disney into rehiring her. Puh-leze. The Mousehouse will eat this bitch for breakfast. Then follow her up with Mickey ears pancakes and coffee from a “Happy Holidays” Starbucks cup.
It’s like years ago when Disney went early on equal benefits for civil unions (shows how long ago it was) and the right lost their s&*$ and wanted to boycott Disney. How’d that work out? It’s all fine in theory until your kid wants the latest Frozen Doll or to see the new Pixar movie. And this was before Disney had Marvel, Star Wars and Disney+ to tempt people.
Every right winger i know is whining about Disneyland being closed (I’m in CA). But sure… boycott Disney.
I know some people who actually do boycott those things…but the problem is that they already were boycotting them. Most of those families already ban or strictly limit consumption of mainstream television and movies, so they’re not Disney’s audience in any case.
Rapunzel, I nominate you for comment of the day!!!
She fumbled her own bag.
Foolish.
Of course she was. I have no doubt that she was warned not only by Disney execs but by her own management. I can’t imagine potentially having your own show in the Star Wars universe and destroying it because you can’t stop tweeting bigoted $hit. No one was asking her to CHANGE her views. They merely told her to shut up about them. But she couldn’t. Because like most racists and bigots she couldn’t help herself. Truly self-destructive but of course she now wants to play the victim. She’s a victim of her own stupidity.
Yeah she should have really just shut up and dribbled.
#sarcasm
#slipperyslope
False equivalence. Bye.
Bwahahaha! Good one!
Which is what I suspected happened. Like, I dare anybody to walk into their workplace and talk like that. See how fast you get fired lol. Money is what talks loudest in America. It’s where the line is always drawn.
I’ve said this elsewhere, but it bears repeating – literally all she had to do was not repeat debunked election fraud stories, not support QAnon, not support insurrection (or the people involved, you know -the ones that actually killed a police officer when supposedly the police are not to be questioned) and most of all, not make shitty false equivalencies about conservatives being persecuted in Hollywood and she would have been living on Disney cash for years to come, not to mention having her own show (which I am honestly shocked people are asking for considering she has zero screen presence and is a really bad actress). The length of time she was able to post nonsense without anyone coming down on her proves that.
She and Ben Shapiro can take all their “welcome to the rebellion” BS and shove it where the sun don’t shine.
If Carano had been a transphobic, antisemitic leftist (and they do exist, at least in the Twitterverse), she would have been fired too. Disney isn’t some liberal champion. They’re a huge multinational corporation, and having someone who’s engaging in behavior that would be considered hate speech in some countries is a liability. She’s not a huge star or in a key role, so she’s gone. If they actually were gunning for MAGA folks just for being MAGAs, Chris Pratt wouldn’t have a job anymore.
I’m kind of alarmed. Just the act of dehumanizing people through derogatory language alone is really serious. It’s the first step in the full spectrum of violence that ends in genocide. What this woman was doing was directly harmful to trans people, Black people…I do not know which other marginalized groups she might have also attacked.
I was annoyed that they wasted the rare honor of being a character from Alderaan on this trash.
Didn’t she used to date Henrry Cavill??
Keep the character and recast her.
She can’t act so no loss.
@BLOEMFONTEIN
“I don’t agree with this lady and had never heard of her (and wouldn’t have seen this movie either way.) I don’t quite get how Disney thinks they are some kind of moral authority. Remember Mulan like 6 months ago? They did not care what the Chinese star said against the Hong Kong protesters. And they thanked the province responsible for the concentration camps. Now that star even has an LV campaign”
You’re ignoring the fact that she was given numerous warnings/chances and the mulan actress is smart enough to have not taken a further “mistake” after her tweet defending the communist party’s assault on HK protesters.
I for one welcome their move. It was along time coming especially for one selfish women who can’t even act. I have no idea why these people are willing to gamble on their career knowing how hard is for people to make it Hollywood.