Gina Carano, the MMA fighter turned “Star Wars” actor, is suing Disney for wrongful termination — and she has a powerful billionaire backer on her side.
Elon Musk’s X Corporation is funding Carano’s lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm, attorneys for the actor said in a Tuesday press release.
Carano, who played Cara Dune in the Disney Plus series “The Mandalorian” before being fired in February 2021, filed a suit against the companies in California this week, alleging harassment and bullying as a result of sharing her conservative political beliefs on X and other social media platforms.
Attorneys for Carano allege Disney wrongfully terminated her and defamed her by mischaracterizing her questions and comments on “various issues of the day, including such issues as Black Lives Matter, Covid lockdowns, election irregularities, and transgender pronouns.”
Representatives for Disney and Lucasfilm did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Carano says she lost her agent, attorney, and future employment opportunities as a result and believes Disney and Lucasfilm targeted her because her views did not align with the company’s public stances.
Disney fired Carano in February 2021 following a string of controversies that began when she started sharing right-wing content on Twitter, including denouncing wearing masks during the pandemic and appearing to joke about transgender pronouns by suggesting her pronouns were boop/bop/beep.
The controversy came to a head, however, when she seemingly compared modern-day Republicans to Jewish people who were persecuted during the Holocaust in a since-deleted tweet.
In a Tuesday post on X, Carano denied comparing Republicans to Jewish people.
“The thing is I never even used aggressive language,” she wrote this week. “I shared thought provoking quotes, pictures, memes & occasionally I used my own words, not with aggression but with respect & the occasional comedy to keep the mood light in dark times.”
Attorneys for Carano said Tuesday that Musk’s X Corporation is paying for her lawsuit. The billionaire appeared to confirm his involvement by reposting Carano’s announcement on X and writing: “Please let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney.”
Musk pledged in August 2023 to pay the legal fees of X users who are “unfairly treated” by their bosses for their posts and likes on the platform.
“I am honored that my case has been chosen to be supported by the company that has been one of the last glimmers of hope for free speech in the world,” Carano said in the press release. “Thank you to Elon Musk and X for supporting me as I endeavor to clear my name and, I hope, make it more difficult for what happened to me to happen to the next person.”
Attorneys for Carano are also pointing the finger at “several of Carano’s male co-stars,” who they say “posted offensive and denigrating posts on social media directed toward Republicans and conservatives. “
The lawyers allege none of Carano’s male colleagues were disciplined by Disney and cite California law, which prohibits companies from terminating a female employee for actions her male colleagues were allowed to do.
“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.
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