Disney and Lucasfilm is being sued by Gina Carano (actress and former mixed martial artist) because of her firing from “The Mandalorian” that took place in 2021.
Carano was known for her character Cara Dune in the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian” and fired for voicing her opinions over social media. But now, after Elon Musk got into a heated discussion about the CEO of Disney, (Bob Iger) over Disney’s content, he decided to back up Gina Carano and support her filing a lawsuit against the company.
Recently Disney has been struggling financially due to their recent movies and TV shows tanking at the box office and in views/ratings. They reached out to Elon Musk, assuming he would help and/or support Disney, but it didn’t go very well for them. Musk was asked about it in an interview with the New York Times, and he replied in an outraged tone, saying how Disney is trying to blackmail him with advertising and money. He later stated, “What would Walt Disney think of the company that is his namesake today? I think Walt Disney is turning in his grave faster than a drill bit.” He would later announce that he was funding Gina Carano’s lawsuit against Disney.
According to Variety Magazine, “The suit, filed in California federal Court, alleges wrongful termination and discrimination, as well as a demand that the court should force Lucasfilm to recast her and pay at least $75,000 in punitive damages.”
Recently on a podcast called PBD Podcast, Gina Carano was on explaining how she’s been dealing with things over the last few years since her firing. She often referred to it as “being in a desert,” meaning that she felt let down, disappointed about her firing, and hurt about being taken out of the spotlight for voicing her opinions. She talked about how Elon Musk got involved with her case, and how she felt relieved that some of the “sting” from being fired from Disney was really getting some attention. Gina Carano explained, “I got an email from an attorney that said they were representing X (Elon Musk’s company), and that they’d like to look through my case.”
Within the last few weeks, Gina Carano posted a message on Twitter, talking about how Disney took what she said out of context to be used against her. She also talked about how she shouldn’t have been shamed for exercising her right to speak freely and voice her opinions. She also went into more detail on X backing up her case, saying on the Tweet, “To my surprise, a few months ago I received an email from a lawyer who had been hired by X to look into my story and many others. Turns out after sending them as much information as I could gather these past few months, my now lawyers and X believe whole-heartedly in my case and are moving forward.”
Another segment on the PBD Podcast that was talked about, is how much money Carano could potentially get from the lawsuit against Disney. The actress responded, “You know, I haven’t actually even thought – and this is to be very frank; I haven’t thought about that, because I feel like right now I’m playing an important part in that: I do believe that what’s happening to me right now is like a God-given gift, so whatever happens I feel that there’s a purpose in this.” She explained how justice doesn’t always happen the way people expect it to, but how she feels like this is a real opportunity to make things right.
Carano explained how many people have been there for her over the years, including John Favreau (writer and executive producer of “The Mandalorian”) who she described as a wonderful person. Favreau has stated in the past, “Well, I don’t know if fans will believe me, but I wrote that character specifically for Gina.” He went on to say, “I would never in a million years want to do a re-cast.” Showing he has respect for the actress and her character even after her firing.
“I’m not very good at the lawyer stuff, but I believe that they (Disney) have a certain amount of time to respond to the case.” Carano said on the PBD Podcast after being asked about when the trial is officially set to take off. So in conclusion, the lawsuit has been confirmed, and Elon Musk is backing Gina Carano up through it all. Though there are still some unanswered questions, there may be updates in the coming months upon this subject.
