Gina Carano, who was famously let go from The Mandalorian due to her transphobic, antisemitic, and other problematic social media posts, is following the well-funded conservative playbook by suing Disney for wrongful termination. And, because we live in the dumbest timeline, none other than Elon Musk is funding it. In the lawsuit, Carano accuses Disney and Lucasfilm of engaging in “a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me” which, in layman’s terms, translates to “Waaahhh my actions had consequences and it’s not fair.”
The actor and former MMA fighter became a breakout star after “The Mandalorian” debuted on Disney+ in 2019. However, she was canned in February 2021 after she shared an Instagram story with some very problematic comments about the Holocaust. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, Carano was never an official cast member on “The Mandalorian” and was paid $25,000 per episode as a guest actor, along with a one-time $5,000 bonus.
In her complaint, Carano alleges that she was harassed and defamed by both Disney and Lucasfilm for her cultural and religious beliefs ― and for not toeing the company line on things like Black Lives Matter and preferred pronouns.
In one case, she ridiculed a request to add pronouns to her social media accounts and instead added the words “boop/bop/beep” to her bio on X, according to The Independent. She also claimed the companies had double standards and didn’t go after “Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal for a 2017 post on X that compared former president Donald Trump to Hitler.
Carano is seeking at least $75,000 in damages, as well as a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her.
Carano’s Mandalorean coworkers, including Pedro Pascal, whose sister is trans, pleaded with her to stop posting her bullsh-t. Even if the pronouns thing was a poorly-conceived joke that meant no harm, she refused to listen when told that it was insensitive. She didn’t listen to warnings and they opted not to bring her back for another season. Carano was also reportedly supposed to be a part of a new show that was in development called Rangers of the New Republic and her behavior cost her that opportunity, too.
At the end of the day, it costs nothing to be a decent human being and if you’re blaming cruelty and bad decisions on your culture and religion, then maybe you need to revisit your beliefs. Gina f—ked around and courted an audience of the toxic Star Wars incel fans and found out. Clearly her character Cara Dune wasn’t a Mandalorian because this is *not* the way. (GONG.) But okay, cool. Cool cool cool. I honestly don’t know what the point of this lawsuit is beyond some inane culture war battle for relevancy. Go forth and take on Disney, Gina and Elon. While you’re at it, ask the governor of Florida how well that’s worked out for him.
Photos credit: Joe Sutter/PacificCoastNews / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, Sara De Boer/startraksphoto.com, Getty
Elon Musk was just at Auschwitz for a ceremony on Holocaust Remembrance Day. So his support of her is an interesting choice.
People forget that Elon father was jewish. Before Elon became famous he wanted to be one of the internet gang. He pretended not to be part jewish. I don’t think he is ashamed because most of his business partners are jewish. I think he just wants to be different.
I knew he would pull some sort of stunt after his Israel trip. I’m just surprised it took him this long.
What’s the evidence for Elon Musk’s father being Jewish? I haven’t seen anything that points in that direction.
Elon musk is not Jewish and neither are his parents.
OK< please know that non-Trumpublican Jews have called out the utter hypocrisy of Musk, a man who continues to platform avowed Nazis & White Supremacists and actively promotes "great replacement theory", is dismissive about the Holocaust, etc. going to Auschwitz and Israel. Please don't be naive enough to think him going to certain places means he's not antisemitic and an overt bigot when his actions show that he very much is
But he was there with Gina’s current employer and defender Ben Shapiro, who holds an insane grudge against Disney for not hiring him as a comedy writer
Ben Shapiro has an odd history. Elon may have met his match with him. Ben has a WHOLE team of people behind him. That’s why he is so successful. He actually has a better network than Elon. But Elon has age, experience, and money.
I bet Elon gets away from Ben fast. He can’t gaslight Ben.
Shapiro and his pal Jeremy Boreing are grifters. They are trying to grift off Musk’s fame, audience, and mostly his money. Shapiro doesn’t care if a person is antisemitic just as long as that person shares all his other views on race, sex, gender, age, disability, and the oil industry. The majority owner of Daily Wire’s parent company is a fracking billionaire
I believe that trip was simply a photo op after his anti-Semitic rhetoric. He likes to insert himself in the headlines, usually not knowing wtf he is talking about.
100% this @atorontogal.
The visit was very transparently a Musk photo-op after getting shit for his anti-Semitic BS.
Lol! The movie she was boasting about being the lead and directing, funded by her MAGA friend Shapiro “Terror on a Prarie” fell flat grossing about $13,000. It was crucified.
So now she wants to sue and be recasted. She found out quick Thai Shapiro will take her career to the dumps.
The best part was seeing reviews by the intended audience — right wing moviegoers — assail the movie for having a woman lead a western action flick. I get that there are many factions within the conservative/right wing audience, but because they are obsessed with falling in line for the good of the group at the end of the day, the loudest voices against seeing women in non-traditional roles will always win out. Gina screwed herself so bad here.
Elon was probably confused and thought it was a celebration for Hitler.
*Cracks knuckles* Here we go. She was an at will employee. She worked at the will of Disney. It was no longer Disney’s will to employee her. Therefore, she was no longer employed. Quite simple really. And it was fortuitous that Disney did not give her a set contract, but kept her as a guest actor on the show. That will make the difference when they file their motion to dismiss.
Exactly. I keep seeing articles saying she was fired but she was not fired. She completed a job (contract). Disney decided to not use her services for more projects. That isn’t being fired and her attorney darn well knows this.
This is a frivolous lawsuit designed to 1. get her attention because her career as an actor has flatlined and 2 hope Disney decides it isn’t worth their time so they fling some pity money at her.
Too bad she doesn’t know the golden rule : You do not f*ck with the Mouse.
But her attorney gets paid anyway. And Elon gets to use her for dude bro credibility. Because all he really cares about is being seen as cool by his sycophants. This won’t get her anything but more negative attention – and Hollywood will continue to avoid her like the plague. She’s dumb for even pursuing this. But it also shows her desperation because besides being cast in a Ben Shapiro film she has had her work. And that will only continue now.
Elon is the type to stop funding the lawsuit after he gets the attention he seeks. she better have a backup plan.
I will say I have always felt bad about how her mma career ended. Chris cyborg – who was/is on every designer hgh ever invented, just bashed her. Chris cyborg has to have her bones shaved down on an almost regular bases. To have her hit you repeatedly in the head at full force is enough to retire a non-enhanced person.
“Elon is the type to stop funding the lawsuit after he gets the attention he seeks.”
This right here. That or his (few) friends make fun of him and he will disappear so fast her head will spin.
Not once in this are they able to claim she had an actual set contract. She was a guest star. The statement at the time said she is not currently an employee and we have no plans to work with her in the future. Not, she’s fired. Disney lawyers are going to tear this limb from limb.
This is so pathetic of her I am almost sad…almost.
MAGA grievance money. There is a lot to be made within that sphere. I’m thinking she’s using this to launch herself into that world.
The employment law equivalent of a slip and fall.
Showing herself to be dumb as a bag of hammers.
And Elno backing another winning cause.
And some legal intern was just told to count days. They’re bumping into statutes of limitations problems
I’m all for wasting more of Elon’s money.
Man, Gina’s behaviour was such a bummer in the fandom. Her career was made with The Mandalorian, all she had to do was keep on keeping on and keep her bullshit takes to herself. She really went and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
She shot herself in the foot. Because she was good in Mandalorian. She also had a small part in Deadpool 1 and she was good in that too. I mean, they weren’t award winning roles but she fit them well and being part of Disney is lucrative. I’m sure it would have led to more roles. Anyway, when someone shows you who they are… believe them.
Disney was reportedly planning on giving her a spin-off since her character was so well liked. She just had to not be a twat.
As for Pedro, his trump post was before his Disney employment. Hence Disney not saying anything to him. No double standard.
Methinks sis is mad because she can’t get work because she’s a bigot and it’s all Disney’s fault.someone call the Waaahmbulance!You can believe in what ever you like but it doesn’t shield you from facing consequences.
100% this @BlueSky.
Yeah I don’t see her succeeding in this lawsuit but who knows.
It really is weird how *put out* some people feel by being asked to be a bit more sensitive. It’s always seemed like more work to continue to be belligerent and unyielding than to just, ya know, grant people basic respect by referring to/addressing them in the way that they prefer.
“…grant people basic respect”
I certainly will NOT, especially now that you’ve asked nicely!! Stop trampling on my freedoms!
Help I’m being oppressed!
Why can’t I be a racist, misogynistic homophobe anymore??? Where is my safe space, dammit!!!!
She wants to be recast? As in, get her Job back? She can’t be that stupid, surely. Why would she want to work with Disney/lucasfilm again if they treated her so unfairly? This reeks of desperation, and she must need work badly!
Someone on Reddit said if they have to recast her they should kill her character with a virus (she’s an anti-vaxxer).
Oh, brilliant! 🦠
Yeah, that part really stuck out to me too. She’s suing them for sexism and discrimination (and, yes, wrongful termination) but also wants them forced to give her her job back? If they’re so awful why would she want to work for them again? As the saying goes, make it make sense.
Oh…and F*CK that little rat-faced troll Elon Musk! He’s such a deranged & despicable POS.
Just to be super clear (bc tbh the reporting that I’ve seen on this has not been), she is seeking FAR more than $75k. That is the minimum ask for just one of her claims in the suit, of which there are many.
Actual lawsuit: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24410222/gina-carano-disney.pdf
See page 57 if you don’t feel like reading it all (although it’s like 50% tweets, which is kind of wild)! Pg. 57 lays out her entire request for damages.
Thanks for the link. This is what I do for a living and if I were House of Mouse legal, I would laughingly hand this mess over to an intern. She filed first with a state agency but clearly withdrew before it issued a decision, which is allowable, but it indicates they thought she would do better crying in front of a jury instead of crying in front of an agency hearing officer who decides these cases daily. To show disparate treatment, she needs to show SIMILARLY SITUATED employees who aren’t in her protected class, got better treatment. She names Jon Favreau and James Gunn, who had completely different jobs, Pedro Pascal, and Mark Hamill. She was not similarly situated to Pedro Pascal or Mark Hamill, nor were their “bad acts” similar. BTW Gina, Evangeline Lilly and Letitia Wright kept their jobs so there goes that sex discrimination claim.
This whole mess is risible
I am not a lawyer but I did own the first 2 seasons of Ally McBeal on DVD in the late 90s, so safe to say I’m *pretty* qualified to provide expert legal analysis here.
But I’ll defer to you on this one and agree that this does not look like a strong case.
I myself obtained my law degree from dick wolf university. Over 1000 cumulative hours of study in a variety of areas.
*Principal Ava asks for a chair, goes to sit down, laughs and falls out chair gif*
These same Republicans that want to fire “at-will” employees from their companies at a whim now think Ms Carano is entitled to a job at Disney? That’s rich. Maybe she can call Candace Cameron Bure to star in a crappy Christian Rom-Com?
I was thinking this same thing.
Given the fact that she’s in a union and they haven’t said boo in her defense, methinks she doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Honest question – wasn’t she also let go because she refused to get the covid vaccine? She was very outspoken about that too.
Regardless of that, she can have all of her opinions and companies can choose to hire her or not due to those opinions.
Yes, the anti-vaccine garbage she spouted was also during that time.
Also, she wasn’t let go/fired. She had completed the work she was contracted to do and Disney chose to not continue working with her.
If she had been fired while still under contract that would be a whole other story (she still wouldn’t win because she broke company policy and refused to comply with a reasonable policy). But she wasn’t fired.
What I don’t understand is why her attorney accepted this case. They know she doesn’t have a valid case and they are willing to put their reputation on the line for her stupidity. They are even “demanding” a jury trial. They want the spectacle but there is no way they believe they will win so what is in it for them other than Elon’s money?
trump still manages to get attorneys. There’s no explanation for crazy.
Because they got paid up front.
Other than mentioning she timely filed with the appropriate state agency, there’s no mention of the disposition of that filing. She likely withdrew it before the agency gave a decision. She certainly didn’t win at that level
Short answer: there are a LOT of attorneys out there who are not very smart.
“wasn’t she also let go because she refused to get the covid vaccine?”
She was never fired remember, just not given a new contract (which is why this is a nonsense suit). But ironically she was already gone before the no-vaccination thing could even become an issue! That’s why it’s not part of the suit. (You just know she is sooo mad about that! Haha!!)
She is certainly an anti-vaxxer, but at the time this all went down (late 2020), she was also aggressively spouting nonsense about mask mandates and covid stay-at-home orders. When she worked with the Daily Wire a year later on their western film, she came out as anti-vax by bragging that no one working on set would have to adhere to any vaccine mandate or mitigation efforts. Not that the clarification matters in the end because ultimately, she had no regard for the lives of others.
So Elon, who is tanking both Tesla and Twitter dramatically, wants to pick a fight with the Mouse?
My guy. MY GUY. Ask Ron DeSantis how it goes when you pick a legal fight with the Mouse for publicity.
Maybe this’ll be the thing that sinks him. Nobody messes with the Mouse.
Man they should really have killed off her character because now there is still the possibility that she’ll be able to come back. They still have the chance to do it off-screen or if they really have to bring her back do it after she has appeared on screen for like three seconds.
“now there is still the possibility that she’ll be able to come back.”
LMAO! Uhhh, no. No there’s not. Sure if she’d sought reconciliation maybe, but through asking the court to order it? That’s what tells you this is a game and not serious. What I haven’t figured out is if she realizes this is just a game she’s being used in. Maybe she doesn’t. She certainly doesn’t come across as very bright.
@Lau What they should do is just recast the character. Gina isn’t some legend that had a character created for her. She lifts right out and there is no reason why another actor can’t step into the role.
I only hope you are right and she’ll just lose some of Musk’s money.
Can’t Carano just have baby with Musk like everybody else who wants a slice of his wealth?
Gina is a casino heiress her family is loaded. She’s not doing this for the money. She’s butt hurt she got cut after showing the world who she really is.
Ewww but also hahahahahaha.
I don’t like Unstable Elon, and this woman seems tiring and beyond problematic on many fronts. However, I always like to check the sources when someone is called out for antisemitism. Because you can’t just throw this around. This is what I found regarding her direct quotes: “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children.”
“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?”
I am Jewish, live in Israel and taught the history of Holocaust for a while… and I just don’t find anything profoundly antisemitic in this statement of hers. It’s actually a big point of discussion of Holocaust to hold ALL appropriate people accountable making sure the history doesn’t repeat. It is uncomfortable, and against some narratives, yet 190-195 000 Jews of Lithuania was murdered mostly by Lithuanians. A Lithuanian author Ruta Vanagaite wrote a great book on it… and was persecuted by many of her compatriots for it. Ukranians of Lviv rounded up their Jewish neighbors, undressed, beat them and gave them up to Nazis as a “gift” on the day Nazi entered the city. Without Nazi asking. And there were many instances like that. And there were many people who risked their lives saving Jews, too. We celebrate them as “Righteous among the living” and have an alley dedicated to them, and benefits available in Israel for them.
It’s interesting how this is considered “antisemitic” yet the phrase “from the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free” that has ONE single meaning of killing/expelling all Jews and destroying Israel is still considered non-antisemitic by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and is still being chanted on many US university campuses.
But that’s not the full context. In the months previous, she posted on her Twitter bio that her pronouns were “beep/bop/boop” (seemingly mocking the LGBTQ community), she recirculated or made false statements about vaccines (and refused to get vaccinated) and the 2020 election. Pretty much if it was a MAGA talking point she espoused it and caught flack for it.
The statement was the final straw for Disney because she equated her catching grief online to the suffering Jews endured during The Holocaust.
Yep, and Disney tried to get her to meet with LGBTQIA+ colleagues and community leaders from gay groups and she refused. They had to get that apology from her or open themselves to litigation from employees who find her offensive and consider Disney to have failed in provide a safe/respectful workplace and culture. It’s not just reputational damage from her tweets but employer obligations. Just like the James Damore (Google) case.
Free speech, even in the US, has a long history of being very limited when it comes to the employer-employee context.
*The phrasing in the US is duty to protect employees from a hostile work environment (as opposed to duty to create a respectful work culture). Very similar to Damore, who in the end resorted to arbitration and got a tiny (rumoured 10K) payout.
I wouldn’t call it context – they are all valid separate points. I didn’t go back to fact check the claims about her alleged transphobia, I am myself still learning about navigating these waters, and more in the listening/learning mode on it; as to the anti-vaccine stance – ignorance can indeed be deadly, but sadly not illegal.
I was talking specifically about the accusation of her being an antisemite as I believe I am qualified to examine it since it’s both my lived experience as a Jew of Eastern European descend, and an educator of the topic of Holocaust. And I didn’t find it antisemitic. Unless there were some other things she said.
She was on Twitter equating anti-mask and vax people with Jews in the Holocaust. She was also spewing anti-trans bigotry.
Don’t know if she was fired or her contract just not renewed; I’ll take the comments upthread as a source for that.
She’s claiming freedom of speech. In the US, there’s a long history of that being severely limited by the employer discretion to hire and fire at will.
Disney can claim (1) reputational damage and (2) obligation to ensure respectful workplace (protect itself from lawsuits from other employees (e.g., transgender) who find her intolerant behaviour offensive).
Pascal’s Trump tweet or tweets were deleted and neither his nor Mark Hamil’s tweets as much attention as hers. Reputational damage (external).
Disney tried multiple times to get her to meet with community leaders from the gay community and LGBTQIA+ colleagues before terminating her. She refused and apparently cites this as bullying. Refusal to commit to a respectful workplace (internal) / opening Disney to risk of litigation from other employees who find her behaviour offensive.
I trust they did their due diligence with Legal and Compliance esp with this loose cannon of a clueless woman before they made whatever termination or not-offering spin-off decision.
James Damore ended up settling for a tiny sum IMSMR. It’s not about your politics; it’s about the employer’s responsibility to create a respectful work environment (and in Gina’s case also reputational damage to Disney).