Disney says Gina Carano ‘grotesquely trivialized the Holocaust,’ files to dismiss Elon Musk-backed lawsuit
Disney fired back at fighter turned actress Gina Carano with a motion to dismiss her wrongful termination lawsuit, which is partially being funded by billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk.
In a new motion filed in California on Tuesday, Disney asked the court to toss out Carano’s lawsuit in which she claims discrimination and wrongful termination after she was effectively fired from her role on the Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian.
Carano claims in her lawsuit that Disney fired her over voicing right-wing opinions on social media. She said the company bullied and harassed her over her views on Black Lives Matter, gender identifying pronouns, and rallying against COVID-19 mandates.
In a 24-page response, Disney laid out a pattern of behavior from Carano, particularly over social media, that led to her firing.
Disney highlighted a number of posts where Carano criticized COVID-19 mandates and vaccinations. The company also points to posts questioning the integrity of the results from the 2020 presidential election, where she claimed “without any evidence that the election was marred by ‘voter fraud,’” and that the incumbent administration needed to “[i]nvestigate every state” and “[f]lush out the fake votes.”
The breaking point for Disney with Carano came in February 2021 when she reposted a meme on Instagram that seemingly compared the atrocities carried out in the Holocaust to public persecution over political views in America.
From the motion to dismiss:
“Disney had enough. The same day Carano grotesquely trivialized the Holocaust as comparable to sharp political disagreements, Lucasfilm announced that “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Disney asked for a June 12 hearing in federal court to have the lawsuit tossed out.
In closing, Disney claimed the lawsuit should be dismissed “on the grounds that Disney has a constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech, such that the First Amendment provides a complete defense to Carano’s claims.”
In her lawsuit, Carano sought a court order to force Disney to re-hire her for the role she lost in The Mandalorian, a sum of at least $75,000, and punitive damages.
After being effectively fired from her Star Wars role, Carano inked a deal with conservative website The Daily Wire to produce films, including her lead role in the western film Terror on the Prairie, where she starred alongside UFC veteran Cowboy Cerrone.