Gina Carano Sues Disney, Lucasfilm for Mandalorian Firing; Elon Musk to Foot Legal Bill
Gina Carano filed a complaint in California federal court Tuesday alleging that she was fired by Disney and Lucasfilm for voicing right-wing opinions on social media.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Mandalorian vet is seeking a court order that would force Lucasfilm to rehire her and pay her at least $75,000, in addition to punitive damages.
Her lawsuit will have the financial backing of X owner Elon Musk, who has vowed to foot the bill for all legal expenses accrued by users who claim that they have been discriminated against for what they write on his social media platform.
“As a sign of X Corp’s commitment to free speech, we’re proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination,” X’s head of business operations Joe Benarroch said in a statement.
Lucasfilm severed ties with Carano in February 2021, after the former mixed martial artist drew fire for a spate of polarizing social media posts — including one in which she stated that Jewish people in World War II were not beaten by German soldiers but “by their neighbors.” Though some argued that Carano’s post was not absolving Nazis of wrongdoing, a #FireGinaCarano hashtag started trending, with many asking Lucasfilm and Mandalorian EP Jon Favreau to oust the actress.
Eventually, a Lucasfilm representative said in a statement that Carano “is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” adding: “[H]er social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
The suit, obtained by THR, claims not only that Carano was let go for exercising free speech, but that the defendants “took other retaliatory actions to limit and deny her future employment opportunities” and intentionally damaged her reputation.
“Some of us have been unjustly singled out, harassed, persecuted and had our livelihoods stripped away because we dared to encourage conversation, asked questions, and refused to go along with the mob,” Carano said in a statement Tuesday. “I am honored that my case has been chosen to be supported by [X] the company that has been one of the last glimmers of hope for free speech in the world.”
TVLine has reached out to Disney, Lucasfilm and Carano’s rep for comment.
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Tell me you don’t understand freedom of speech without telling me that you don’t understand freedom of speech. Musk is an idiot who has fooled a large portion of the population that he’s intelligent
So you are a billionaire who has created three companies worth more than you could ever dream of making.
He didn’t create them. Bought them.
So he bought Tesla, Space X, and his newest venture that could help cure neurological disorders huh.
Yes, he bought Tesla. Tesla was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. Apartheid Clyde came in a year later and gave them $6.5 million for a stake in the company. He then tried a hostile takeover, but in 2009 a court settlement came to an agreement that he couldn’t be considered the sole co-founder. He has to legally share it with the two man who actually founded the company.
Musk did create SpaceX, after some prodding from some people and after the Russians denied him the sale of their Dnepr rockets.
As for Neuralink, it was founded by 8 people in 2016, 7 scientists and Musk who was the primary financial backer. They bought the name Neuralink from someone else. Musk was the money man and the other 7 were the brains behind it.
And one of them is now worth a fraction of what it as because of his direct decisions, LOL.
It was worthless to begin with, he bought it to save freedom of speech and stop the communist democrats from lying through another election.
Loosen the tin-foil hat, bro.
That’s a strange take, calling Democrats “communist”? Who’re the most outspoken pro-Putin in the US? Right wing Republicans, how does that work?
Maybe you need to look at what Freedom of Speech is about. Yes, we have it. But no where is it written, there would be no ramifications for what you say by those who employ you, or by fellow people. Look at you-calling Dems Communists all because they say things YOU don’t like. See? Didn’t bar them from your wrath. What if the “head” of our country-mind you at any point in our history or future-were to go to the heads of every state or country and say I don’t like you-FO!. You do understand what the ramifications would be…. We can say anything we want, that does not mean we won’t be jailed, hated, fired, etc. Freedom of Speech does not giver us free reign.
How can you be fired when you have no contract? Nothing had been signed at this point. Free speech doesn’t mean no consequences. It means the government can’t prevent you from speaking freely.
I have it on good authority that Alina Habba is accepting new clients. What could possibly go wrong? 🤭
The law about this is pretty crystal clear – First Amendment applies to the government and not private individuals or parties. She will lose her case but the real objective is to hunt for embarrassing emails or docs during discovery.
Like most have already said all over social media. These right wing nuts spewing their lies and hate think free speech = no consequences. It doesn’t. The world is no longer tolerant of hate and these far right nutjobs can’t stand it. It’s never going back so get over it.
Nothing she ever said was hateful of hate speech. It was pure scientific fact. Plus it was also how she felt and as you wokies know… all feeling must be respected and taken as absolute truth. Go get yours, Gina. The rational world believes in you.
The rational world include contracts and clauses, so deciding before discovery that *nothing* she said is a problem (FYI, doesn’t have to be legally hate speech for an employer to have had their contracts or policies violated) is a bold statement.
Disney has some of the best lawyers on the planet; Elon just likes to waste money.
You people have absolutely no idea what the word “woke” even means. To you MAGA’s it means anyone not a straight white make …anyone. You can go to any movie or tv show on IMDB and if the leads aren’t straight white men then it’s considered “woke.” Not even leads, if anyone has a part more than a few minutes it’s woke. The biggest joke line of all is “go woke go broke.” The most successful movies and shows of the last few years are what you people consider “woke.” Woke movies/shows don’t fail at any more a rate than “non-woke” movies/shows.
Woke = Empathetic in my eyes, I’ll gladly be called Woke any day of the week, means I’m not a narcissistic sociopath and can actually care about the feelings and emotions of other people!
Carano fell under heavy criticism after she authored a post on social media that likened the Holocaust to the US political climate at the time. “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbours … even by children,” she said.
She literally said “Nazi soldiers” i.e. THE SS which was a political machine of the Nazi state found at the Nuremberg Trials to have been the key enforcers of the harassment, murder and deportation of Jews during the ENTIRETY of the Holocaust. She LITERALLY says “not by Nazi soldiers” but by “neighbours and children” because “the government MADE THEM HATE JEWS”… not even a mention of 1200 years of generalized anti-semitism in a nation that was home to both the Catholic AND Protestant Churches who blamed Jews for the murder of Christ!
All to make the purely specious point that MAGATs who were rioting in the capital, committing mass shootings at Walmarts had it as bad as JEWS during the height of the HOLOCAUST. It’s damned ridiculous. Musk has endless money but Disney would be foolish to roll over. The Supreme Court long ago ruled that your boss can fire you for preferring white bread to wheat so long as they don’t discriminate on the basis of categories protected in the civil rights act. Arguing that NAZI soldiers DIDN’T harass Jews in the street but CHILDREN did shouldn’t pass MUSKer even in the shakier environs of Musk’s South Africa.
Free speech doesn’t entitle you to an audience or freedom from being fired because you’ve alienated a great deal of your employers consumer base.
She FAFO’d and I certainly will never watch anything she’s in again.
Besides she HAS gotten acting work so what’s her problem?
I say this as a big fan of hers up til she spouted hateful crap. I even liked her crappy films. From Jet on AG, to Haywire which was written for her to the movie where her husband (Twilight actor) is kidnapped. That was actually my favorite. Lol
It’s called boycotting and was always a common practice. Now it’s called cancelling but it’s the same concept. You alienate your fan base, studios will stop hiring you. They have no need to badmouth you because you did it to yourself publicly.
Just go back to making your MAGA movies.
I hope she loses!!
I hope she destroys them and through discovery learn the names of the Lucasfilm employees who liabled and slandered her so she can sue them into oblivion as well.
And in the land where we actually live, reality, this lawsuit will go nowhere.
No need to defend her honour. She’s not going to kiss you bro
If she spent more time taking acting lessons and less time surrounded by right wing nutjobs who think they have a constitutional right to be rude, obnoxious, offensive and loud, she’d be working nonstop.
Weirdly enough when I told off my boss, they didn’t give me a raise, but fired me! Unconstitutional!
No one has violated her right to free speech. She can still spew bile if she wants to, she just has to live with companies like Disney making commercial decisions and declining to hire her in the future.
Sadly, I don’t think that it’s an exaggeration to say that the majority of people don’t seem to know what “freedom of speech” actually entails.
It amazes me how much Elon likes to waste money.
For real.
I doubt it’s his own money.
Sounds like a PR stunt that will get dismissed before it ever goes to trial because there is no “free speech” with employers.
LOLsuits are the best!
Dear Gina Carano and Elon Musk:
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Freedom of speech does NOT mean freedom from consequences, especially from a private company. Gina, you compared COVID restrictions to the HOLOCAUST. Is it ANY wonder you got the boot?
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And, based on precedent, this will go down in flames. See the actors on General Hospital on ABC – owned by Disney – that brought suit for being fired when they would not get a vaccine shot. Guess who won?
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Hint: Not the actors.
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Hope Elmo has a blast losing more money!
Yeah she will not win this case.
Crazy how she didn’t need them, yet literally suing them to force them to hire her. I really find it funny when unskilled people think they have more leverage than they actually do… She really thought the deal to make movies with that other idiot on the internet was going to replace a Star wars job…wow
Working for a private company doesn’t entitle you to “free speech” AND a job, it’s that simple. Is it fair if your coworker, who is publicly known to work for the same company as you, starts saying whatever they want on social media. Then those postings start causing the company to lose business and as a result you have to get let go or taking a reduce salary. Should that employee who made the messages have their job protected against the best interest of the rest of the company? Absolutely not. If she stands by her postings then own up to the consequence of losing your job and move on. Suing just makes it look like you regret what you did. It’s just a shame if this lawsuit takes a space away from someone who was truly wrongly terminated by things actually protected by law, like race, religion, disability, etc.
Good for her. She should win easily people are entitled to think and express their opinions and should not have to be bullied or retaliated against which is exactly what happened. The entertainment industry is famous for these dirty tactics. Agree with us or don’t work. It’s so pathetic and discriminatory.
You have no concept of how the law works, she won’t win.
When will people learn about what “free speech” entails?
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Yes, one can say what they want. BUT if you work for a company and you violate their standards, you can be fired. All “free speech”/1A protects you from is the government throwing someone in prison for his/her views.
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Which is what happened to Gina Carano. She had controversial opinions, those opinions could affect Disney’s bottom line, and goodbye, Ms. Carano. But if Elon Musk wants to throw money at a case that is sure to be a losing one, go for it.
She is a horrible person and not a good actress…
Loved you in The Last of Us! ;)
So she wants to not be denigrated, bullied, or have “lies” spread about her — so that she can freely denigrate, bully, and spread lies on social media? The fact that neither she nor X seem to have noticed this hypocrisy feels like now satire is just chasing reality. 🤣
If Disney loses – which we all know, they won’t – they can just rehire her to stand in the background – at furthest background for one scene and be done with it. That’s it. They can pay her that much and still be on the show or movie and meet her demands so she can then frack off to MAGA land.
1) There’s no way that Disney didn’t have some sort of morality clause in their contract with Carano that would cite racist and otherwise bigoted statements. The Mouse is extremely vigilant about that, even down to anti-Semitic messages in issues of Immortal Hulk and an X-Men series that got their respective artists fired from those books.
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2) Carano doesn’t seem to understand that we all saw her social media posts and how bigoted they were. She’s not being blacklisted in any real sense of the term, which requires a certain amount of communication between a lot of different companies, it’s each company doing it of their own accord because they do not want a toxic personality on their sets and associated with their companies.
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This isn’t even close. Carano was dropped like a hot potato by *everybody* too quickly for them to have bothered to contact each other over the toxic behavior of a D-List, sub-Roseanne actress, Star Wars series or not. That isn’t blacklisting, that’s a rapid, unilateral, well-deserved shunning by each company. And contrary to Carano’s silly assertion, she’s still got freedom of speech, she can still spout her bigoted nonsense on Twitter. Or Un-Truth Social. Or 4-Chan. Or text messages, DMs and the like.
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Meanwhile, thanks for wasting even more of your money on a losing case, Elon! That’s all the faster you’ll have to sell Twitter, Tesla and everything else you own that you’re across-the-board mismanaging.
Technically she didn’t make those tweets on his platform, that was before he purchased it… but that’s just me having some silly fun.
I remember at the time of that particular tweet, I thought the focus was more on the latter part, which everyone seems to have forgotten? It’s so confusing to me… But I remember everyone having more of a problem with “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views” at the end of that tweet… the implication being that she was comparing how right wing folks are treated with how Jews were treated… Does anyone else remember that being the outrage? Have I been Berenstained?
Wow, the number of people who have a law degree these days and know exactly how it all works. I’m impressed!
A basic history class covers Amendments. Maybe you should have paid more attention?
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And Gina Carano made herself a victim and is now whining because she had to face consequences. Reminds me of a certain orange creature she admires. Go figure.