Former MMA fighter Gina Carano has filed a lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm claiming discrimination and wrongful termination after she was fired from her role on Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
Carano filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in California federal court, alleging that she was fired for voicing right-wing opinions on social media. Carano is seeking a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her in the role she played as Cara Dune in the first two seasons of the series.
Carano’s lawsuit is backed by X owner Elon Musk, who previously promised to pay the legal bills for anyone discriminated against for expressing opinions on his social media platform.
“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” Musk wrote on Twitter this past August.
“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,” Joe Benarroch, Twitter’s head of business operations, said in a statement.
Back in 2021, Lucasfilm announced that Carano would not be returning for the third season of The Mandalorian and stated that she was “not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.” The studio also denounced social media posts from Carano, which included a message that seemingly compared living as a conservative in the United States to the atrocities suffered by Jews during the holocaust in Nazi Germany.
“Her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,” Lucasfilm said in the statement.
Carano also lost her agents at UTA following her split with Disney.
Prior to her dismissal, Carano was also rumored to be one of the stars of a new Star Wars spinoff called Rangers of the New Republic, however that series was later shelved. Her character ultimately earned a very brief mention during the third season of The Mandalorian but obviously did not appear in the show.
In the lawsuit, Carano also claims she was bullied on social media and that Disney/Lucasfilm harassed her over her views on Black Lives Matter, her problems with gender pronouns, and rallying against mandates issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. She added that Disney and Lucasfilm allegedly ignored her male co-stars, who routinely voiced their opinions on social media but faced no reprisal as a result.
“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 to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I am honored that my case has been chosen to be supported by the company [X] that has been one of the last glimmers of hope for free speech in the world.”
Carano is not only seeking a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her in the role, but also a sum of at least $75,000 and punitive damages as a result.