Gina Carano has said that trying to find work since her firing from Disney has been like “sitting in the desert”.
In 2021, the MMA fighter-turned-actor was fired by Disney and the show The Mandalorian after she posted a string of controversial opinions online.
Carano has recently filed a lawsuit against Disney and its subsidiary Lucasfilm, alleging that the production companies wrongfully terminated her from The Mandalorian and other Star Wars titles for sharing a range of far-right opinions.
Last month, Elon Musk said he would help to fund Carano’s suit.
The posts in question saw Carano — who portrayed Cara Dune on The Mandalorian — upload a string of controversial posts, one of which compared the treatment of conservatives in the US to that of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.
Others included ridiculing mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, and furthering false suggestions of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. Carano also shared online comments criticising protesters during the Black Lives Matter movement.
And now, in an interview with The Post Millennial, she has spoken out about the knock-on effects of the firing, saying that it has “stuck” on her, making it difficult for her to get acting work or to attract an agent.
“It’s like I’ve been in this desert where I belong nowhere,” she explained. “I’m alone. I had my moment with The Daily Wire, but I don’t work with them. I’m not employed by them. I’m a solo artist out here. And I’m grateful for them. But like, you know, I’m just on my own out here. And so I feel like I’m sitting here in the desert and just trying to stay positive and trying to rebuild, you know, getting doors closed on me.”
In a statement at the time of her dismissal in 2021, a spokesperson for Lucasfilm confirmed Carano was no longer employed at the company, describing her posts as “abhorrent and unacceptable”, and “denigrating [of] people based on their cultural and religious identities”.
Alongside her firing from The Mandalorian, an upcoming project centred on Cara Dune — titled Rangers of the New Republic — was removed from Lucasfilm’s release schedule. Carano also claimed that Disney omitted her image and likeness in promotional materials for an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls in which she guest starred, as part of what the lawsuit describes as a “post-termination smear campaign”.
Carano was dropped by her agency, UTA, in 2021. Now, Carano’s wrongful termination lawsuit has alleged that Lucasfilm harassed and defamed her for refusing to conform to their views on topics relating Black Lives Matter, preferred pronouns and false claims of electoral fraud.
The suit also alleges that her male co-stars, including The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal, were able to post derogatory statements about conservatives and Republicans without punishment.
The suit details an alleged incident in which Carano was required by Disney to meet with a GLAAD spokesperson, following online posts that were deemed anti-trans. After refusing to attend both that meeting and another involving LGBTQIA+ Disney employees, Carano was terminated.
Carano is claiming wrongful discharge and sexual discrimination, seeking $75,000 in damages and a court order that would require her to be recast on The Mandalorian.
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