Gina Carano is 'moved to tears' after judge REJECTS Disney's motion to dismiss her lawsuit over Mandalorian firing: 'What happened to me was unacceptable'
- Carano, 43, sued Disney for discrimination in February
- She was fired from Mandalorian in 2021, after a controversial social media post
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Gina Carano said she was 'moved to tears' after a judge ruled that her lawsuit against Disney can proceed, after the company tried to have it dismissed.
The actress, 42, sued the mega-entertainment brand for discrimination in February 2024, with the assistance of Elon Musk, over her 2021 firing from the Star Wars series Mandalorian.
Carano had played Cara Dune for the first two seasons of the hit show, which streams on Disney+. She was fired after she compared the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany to conservatives in modern America in a social media post.
On Wednesday, following the court ruling, she shared a lengthy Instagram statement, as well as a clip from her 2021 interview with the Daily Wire.
'What happened to me was unacceptable, absurd and abusive, among other things. It should not have happened to me, and it should not happen to anyone else moving forward. Let it stop here,' she wrote.
Gina Carano, 42, said she was 'moved to tears' after a judge ruled that her lawsuit against Disney can proceed, after the company tried to have it dismissed; seen in 2019
Carano started out her statement by quoting the court's ruling, 'The court DENIES defendants motion.'
She went on, 'I am moved to tears. After a brutal 3 1/2 years, I am being given the opportunity to move forward in the court of law before the judge and my peers to clear my name. I am so grateful for this opportunity.'
'I quite literally fought to get to where I got to in my career through intense ups and downs, and I'll keep up that fight to continue doing what I love. I appreciate all of you who stood by me and defended me, and I am so sorry that similar situations have happened to some of you. I want you to know that I see you and I stand with you.'
She also thanked the owner of X (formerly known as Twitter), Elon, who helped fund her lawsuit.
'Thank you to Elon Musk, a man I have never even met, who so graciously gave me a fighting chance. Thank you for standing for justice for all of humanity. May God bless you and your family for years to come because He has chosen you for such a time as this. ❤️'
Gina also shared a clip from her 2021 interview with Daily Wire's co-founder Ben Shapiro, 40, writing that she was 'at my lowest point' at the time.
'I was wounded and in so much pain, but I feel that pain lifting now. I pray for justice to shine through this case. It's been one heck of a life. I am looking forward to getting back to the art of storytelling and doing my part to help the world heal.'
She wrapped up her statement: 'Thank you all. I'm sure it will be quite a battle ahead, but God's given me the ability to take some punches and give some back. My feet are on solid ground. Imagine what your voice can do.'
As per legal documents obtained by Deadline, California-based Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett denied Disney's motion for dismissal.
'Defendants have not identified any evidence—in the Complaint or otherwise—to substantiate a claim that they employ public-facing actors for the purpose of promoting the ‘values of respect,’ ‘decency,’ ‘integrity,’ or ‘inclusion,"' the ruling read.
'Accordingly, Defendants’ invocation of the supposedly detrimental effects of Plaintiff’s ‘mere presence’ as one of Defendants’ employees lacks constitutional import.'
On Wednesday she shared a lengthy Instagram statement, as well as a clip from her 2021 interview with the Daily Wire, where she discussed what happened to her
'What happened to me was unacceptable, absurd and abusive, among other things. It should not have happened to me, and it should not happen to anyone else moving forward,' she wrote
The actress sued Disney for discrimination in February 2024, over her 2021 firing from the Star Wars series Mandalorian; seen in a still from the Disney + show
'At this stage in the litigation, the Court cannot conclude, as Defendants urge it to, that Plaintiff’s continued employment by Defendants would inhibit or intrude upon Defendants’ rights to expressive association.'
A date for the lawsuit has not yet been set.
In April, Disney argued it had a First Amendment right to fire Gina after she posted tweets that were out-of-step with the trans-rights movement, and an image the company claims was controversial as it pertained to the Holocaust.
Carano sued the House of Mouse claiming the company broke the law when it retaliated against her for expressing personal political beliefs.
Attorneys for Disney filed a motion to dismiss the suit, arguing the company has a 'constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano's speech.'
The post, which originated from another account, appeared on Carano's story and read: 'Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors ... even by children.'
In quotation marks the caption then reads: '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 words appear above a disturbing image of a woman in undergarments running from two young boys in Nazi Germany.
The actress had faced earlier pushback against her posts to social media about COVID-19 restrictions, to which she mostly objected, and the 2020 election, questioning Donald Trump's loss to Joe Biden.
In her statement she also thanked Elon Musk, who helped fund the lawsuit; Musk seen in December in Rome
Musk announced he was funding Carano's legal move, after promising to pay for legal actions taken by people claiming discrimination from posts to X
Following months of clashes with Disney, Musk appeared to escalate the feud as he offered legal support to anyone discriminated against by Disney through their woke rules
She also refused to signal support for transgender rights on her public social media profiles, with which Disney apparently took issue.
According to her suit, the conglomerate forced her to sit through a 90-minute Zoom meeting with officials from GLAAD after she wrote 'boop/bop/beep' in her Twitter profile, instead of taking seriously the assignment of identifying her pronouns publicly.
In its motion, Disney says the Nazi post acted as the 'final straw.'
The post, the company argues, trivialized the Holocaust by referring to 'thousands' of Jews, not 'millions,' and by likening their experience to those of modern American conservatives.
At that point, 'Disney had enough,' reads the filing.
The day her post went up, the corporation put out a statement calling her comments 'abhorrent and unacceptable,' and adding that it had no future plans to hire her on any projects.
Carano, who became something of a sensation among the conservative community on what was then Twitter, brought suit under the California law that prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for political activity.
Disney responded by arguing that there is a broad exception for organizations whose business it is to engage in speech - like newspapers. The company referenced a recent law article written by one of Carano's attorneys - UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh.
'When an employee or prospective employee says things, even off the job, that would undermine the employer's message, the employer must be able to distance itself from the employee,' he wrote two years ago.
Thus, argue Bob Iger's fleet of legal minds, Disney was 'entitled to protect its creative speech in the 'Star Wars' series from association with views Disney and many viewers (and potential viewers) considered offensive and contrary to Disney's values.'
Carano was terminated by Disney after a string of politically tinged social media posts, including one that compared treatment of modern American conservatives to Jews during the Holocaust
She was also accused of mocking gender pronouns for listing 'beep/bop/boop' in her social media bio where users often include pronouns such as he/him/his or they/them/theirs
'Carano's presence as a prominent actor on 'The Mandalorian' interfered with Disney's choice not to produce a show associated with her beliefs,' they wrote.
The actress additionally alleged that the company discriminated against her on the basis of sex, citing the fact that Disney took no action after male actors Pedro Pascal and Mark Hamill posted material comparing followers and supporters of President Donald Trump to Nazis.
Disney argued that the standard it applied to Carano doesn't matter.
'The First Amendment protects Disney's decision to dissociate itself from some speech but not from other, different speech.
'The First Amendment mandates deference to the speaker's own decisions about what speech to associate with, even if others might consider those decisions 'internally inconsistent' … Carano thus cannot stake out a discrimination claim by alleging that Disney accorded different treatment to different statements by different actors,' they wrote.
Carano's suit, filed in California federal court, alleges wrongful termination and discrimination, and demands that the court force Lucasfilm to recast her as well as pay her at least $75,000 in damages.
According to the complaint, Disney and Lucasfilm harassed and defamed Carano for refusing to conform with their viewpoints.
Carano argues that the entertainment giant turned a blind eye to her male costars who she claims put up offensive posts aimed at Republicans.
Carano alleged that Disney discriminated against her on the basis of sex, as they took no action after male actors Pedro Pascal and Mark Hamill posted material comparing followers and supporters of President Donald Trump to Nazis; she is pictured with Pascal in 2019
In 2018 Pascal also compared current political situations to Naziism - but has not been reprimanded by Disney for doing so
She also claims she was required to meet with representatives of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination, which demanded a public apology from her.
The complaint states: 'Defendants went so far as to try and convince Carano's publicist to force Carano to issue a statement admitting to mocking or insulting an entire group of people, which Carano had never done.
'After she refused to issue the statement Defendants demanded, and Defendants rejected Carano's proposed alternate statement, Defendants increased their harassment of Carano.'
Carano says she was then told to meet with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and employees who identified as LGBTQ+.
After declining to do so, she was terminated shortly after from The Mandalorian, as well as other Star Wars titles.
