In a recent development, actress Gina Carano has requested that Pedro Pascal, her Mandalorian co-star, testify in her lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm, which alleges discrimination and wrongful termination. Additionally, director Jon Favreau, British adventurer Bear Grylls, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy have also been named as potential witnesses. Could Gina Carano’s lawsuit against Disney alter the way The House of Mouse does business in future?
Gina Carano’s Lawsuit Against Disney
From The Book of Boba Fett‘s disappointing plot to The Acolyte rewriting some of Star Wars‘ most sacred lore, Disney’s Star Wars hasn’t been immune to controversies. Even in its early days, when we were still in the honeymoon phase with The Mandalorian, legal issues caused a divide between fans who found themselves amid an ongoing power struggle.
Gina Carano, who played Cara Dune in The Mandalorian, was fired by Disney after allegedly crossing the line with posts she shared on her social media accounts. The publications, which likened conservatives to the Jewish population in Nazi Germany, were seen as antisemitic by religious watchdogs, prompting Lucasfilm to cut ties with the actress.
Not only was Cara Dune erased from The Mandalorian, Carano herself was essentially blacklisted from all Disney projects. That includes one episode of the show Running Wild with Bear Grylls that was temporarily removed from Disney+. Even after restoring the episode, Disney erased Carano’s image from any promotional material.
This February, billionaire and X owner Elon Musk announced he would finance Carano’s legal fees against Disney for wrongful termination. For a while, legal experts and Star Wars fans who were against Carano’s views believed the lawsuit stood on shaky legal ground. Imagine their shock when Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett declared she would not dismiss Carano’s case.
Now, Carano’s legal cause moves forward against all odds. Though the future is unclear at this stage, Gina Carano’s lawsuit could set a precedent for actors – and for Disney’s “moral clauses” in future contracts.
A First Amendment Issue
From the beginning, Carano made it clear she was suing Disney in the name of free speech. The actress insists her comments were taken out of context, and Musk agrees Disney’s firing attempted against Carano’s First Amendment rights.
If Carano manages to settle the score with the House of Mouse on her firing, it would be a significant moment for the industry as a whole. After all, insiders report that “[Disney was] looking for a reason to fire her for two months,” clearly bothered by Carano’s outspoken conservative views.
A Matter Of Morals?
A victory for Gina Carano could spell a shakeup for Disney’s moral code. The company would have to establish a concise set of guidelines for new actors. After all, Carano is far from being the only controversial talent employed by Disney. A few years ago, the company fired James Gunn for “inappropriate” social media posts, not to mention the whole Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean situation.
It’s virtually impossible for Disney to rehire Gina Carano this late into The Mandalorian‘s lifespan. The most likely outcome is that Carano and Disney will reach a deal before the matter reaches court. Still, going against Disney, especially with such a complex case, is no easy task.
If Gina Carano wins her lawsuit against Disney – and that’s one big if – it could mean that other actors who felt they were unjustly terminated could raise their voices and let their discontent be known. It might be too late for Depp and others, but, at least, Disney has to establish a set of clear guidelines dictating the sort of behaviour they will and won’t tolerate from their actors.
What are your thoughts on Gina Carano’s lawsuit against Disney?
The Mandalorian |
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The travels of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. |
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| Creator: Jon Favreau |
| Cast: Pedro Pascal, Chris Bartlett, Katee Sackhoff, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano, Taika Waititi, Temuera Morrison |
| Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy |
| Number of Seasons: 3 |
| Streaming Service: Disney+ |
Labor Code – LAB DIVISION 2. EMPLOYMENT REGULATION AND SUPERVISION [200 – 2699.8] ( Division 2 enacted by Stats. 1937, Ch. 90. )
PART 3. PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES [920 – 1139] ( Part 3 enacted by Stats. 1937, Ch. 90. )
CHAPTER 5. Political Affiliations [1101 – 1106] ( Chapter 5 enacted by Stats. 1937, Ch. 90. )
1102. No employer shall coerce or influence or attempt to coerce or influence his employees through or by means of threat of discharge or loss of employment to adopt or follow or refrain from adopting or following any particular course or line of political action or political activity.
(Enacted by Stats. 1937, Ch. 90.)
Anyone thinking that comparing anything to the Holocaust is ok is oblivious to what went on there. What mental capacity are you if you think that what went on in Germany at that time was comparable to a few restrictions for public safety.
I never cared for her character and she was not missed in subsequent episodes. Her acting was below par compared to other actors. She just needs to move on. We did.
Slanted BS article. She didn’t say anything about conservatives. She said any discrimination against political views is like what the Nazis did.
Interesting that Musk, who just joked with Trump about firing workers who strike (which is illegal) now supports a very shaky beach of contact lawsuit.
In the unlikely event she wins, don’t be surprised if the fine is $1.
It’s not about the $ never has been. It’s about Kathleen Kennedy and her personality cult.
Gina was not warned,written up,had money docked from her paycheck, and no steps where taken to discipline her from what she said. She was just fired. Disney owes her, private sector or not. I can see if she was fighting or stealing but voicing her opinion? Are we that sensitive if someone doesn’t like something we get canceled? I guess so and that’s pretty sad. God Bless you Gina and keep pushing forward.
Why is the right only gets upset when it’s a rich person who gets fired. Trump was just joking with elmo about firing workers who go on strike. I guess their motto is down with the middle class and up with the rich
Yeah her case, with or without Elon’s poor interpretation of the First Ammendment is on pretty shaky grounds. Its telling that this article was written with enthusiasm in the wake of what seems like a victory merely because the case was not thrown out immediately. You know your case is on thin ice when just not getting tossed out is a suprise. Thats like a last place team getting a late goal in a 10 nothing game and everyone’s happy they got a goal.
Look, its not a First Ammendment issue. Her right to express her views, whatever they may be were not restricted. No one prevented her from saying anything. But that does not protect her from the consequences of her words,.and yes, losing your job is certainly one of them.
It was a surprise because Disney didn’t expect the judge to cite a CA law that was originally written in the 1950s to protect communists from being blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
An almighty can of worms has now been opened. Progressing to Discovery will allow Gina’s legal team access to all House of Mouse documentation/communication relating to the issue and with tech support from the boffins at X, there will def be no lost or deleted data.
Considering some of the recent whistleblowers suggested info re HoM strictly internal policies/agendas, I’m pretty sure there is quite a bit of interesting info about to become public.
This kind of crap is exactly why Elon Musk bought Twitter. The Democrats have lost their freaking minds. Crazy crazy people
Conservatives comprehension of the first ammendment is truly insane.
I agree.
If they are going to focus solely on the 1st amendment she SHOULD lose no question, bc It’s not a 1st Amendment issue. The 1st Amendment protects you from government censorship and/or retaliation. Private businesses can set whatever standards they wish for their employees.
It’s not based solely on the 1st Amendment. Disney should lose.
Gina Carano’s comparison of the ethno-racial and religious persecution and murder of Jews during the Lviv pogroms, where Nazi Germany’s armed forces collaborated with local Ukrainian nationalists, civilians, and German soldiers to massacre Jews in late June and early July 1941, is both inaccurate and deeply misleading.
Jews were targeted and massacred not because of their political beliefs but due to their ethno-racial and religious identity.
I once admired Gina Carano for her pugilistic and acting talents, but my perspective changed after reading this article. Disney, as a private company, has the right to hire and terminate employees and contractors at its discretion, particularly if their views or actions are in conflict with the company’s values regarding race, ethnicity, religion, and politics.
It is important to note that the First Amendment protects free speech from government infringement, not from actions taken by private entities like Disney. If Disney determines that its employees or contractors do not align with the company’s standards, it is within its legal rights to take appropriate action. Any attempts by judges, justices, employees, or contractors to impose their will on a private enterprise in this regard would be constitutionally unwarranted.
Finally, the distortion of historical facts to support a tenuous and unrelated narrative is a common tactic employed by far-right groups to influence Americans who do not share their views.
Just wait until the new progressive party does the same thing to anyone who dares to speak against them, they’re already trying to cancel anyone now, next step is re-education camps.
Amazing how many ill informed useful idiots commented in favor of disney on this. If you want to live in a world that anyone who disagrees with your views has the right to fire, take away livelihood, ruin your life, keep supporting the crap disney has pulled. Just remember, what goes around comes around, someday you too may have a different view of the world, and you may be on the receiving end of something like this. That surely will help you understand why it’s not right. Laws have been put in place to protect all workers, there is a reason for that. Congratulations on a positive outcome Gina.
Bad news that’s how the law already is for a private buisness.
It’s weird how many Disney ass clowns are in here?
It’s Disney’s money it’s their business those comments could cost them millions so yes they have a right to fire her justly.
It has always been like this. Your political affiliation has never been ab protected class. Say something your employer doesn’t like and they can fire you.
Just because that has been a historical interpretation does not mean it is a just one and if the courts seek justice or fairness these clauses should not Be able to be metered out arbitrarily without consequences. If you terminate a contract without just cause there should be consequences in this case Disney should pay for damages. Otherwise any contract with any similar clause is basically just voidable outright. There is discrimination against conservatives and witch hunts in the media and cancel culture is outright evil and in that way it is the same both are evil and I think really that is all she was saying all thr people drawing these long correlations off of a small comment are missing the point entirely. You cannot allow companies to stretch minor clauses that were intended to allow firing for criminal acts at their inception into a right to fire because someone said the sky was a different color of blue than it actually is.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from repercussions.
So freedom of expression ie drag queens and the like also needs to be in the same bucket
I’m pretty sure the author is this girls PR agent. This article screams “fanfic written by someone with daddy issues”
Disney is wrong. Stop sucking down the crooked Disney juice
Ad hominem much?
You omitted the vital fact that Pedro Pascal, her own costar, has repeatedly made Nazi = Republican/America comparisons, as other Disney empoyees have, with no consequences. Johnny Depp even openly called for Trump to be assassinated. He wasn’t cancelled for that but over the BS abuse charges by Amber Heard.
While Gina’s comments were a thoughtful call for people to not hate each other over political differences, Pascal’s have been shallow, hateful, and stupid. He even used a cropped image of Palestinians he pretended were illegals held in the US while equating illegal aliens to Jewish Holocaust victims and the USA to Nazi Germany.
So it’s really easy to prove Disney lied about WHY they fired her. At the very least discovery should highlight their grotesque hypocrisy and evil core to a wider audience. Gina wasn’t even that conservative. She just wasn’t leftist and her non-conformist statements irritated the activists who run the modern Disney empire. Disney is all about hating people for political differences.
Just to point out, under the rule of a certain president, women were under threat of having not just their rights, but their safety set back years, even decades. American right wingers may not have actively been putting them into concentration camps, but they came pretty close to saying that’s what should happen particularly if the woman in question wanted an abortion. In fact, I’m pretty sure in some states it was made legal for something like that to actually happen.
As you can see, this is a very different scenario to Gino’s comments which were mocking attempts to keep people safe during a world wide pandemic. She can’t even legitimately claim her comments are being taken out of context, her exact quotes were given.
Disney is not all about hating people for political differences, it’s about distancing itself from people who make it quite clear they couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the safety of their fellow actors. Or anyone else for that matter.
Wow big orange man scare little boy does he? He just gave the power to the states to vote on. This is the same BS Gina has been fighting against. The halfwits with little brain freshly washed and oh so smooth. Big Orange man really gonna get you this November.
And they reason why the pandemic was so bad here is because Trump downplayed how bad the virus was and the lock down didn’t work was because certain states were lax and opened up early. Not to mention how many people ignored guidelines from experts that is why American had more deaths and infections than other countries.
You’re proof of Trump loving Low IQ voters.
More Democrap nonsense. The left loves tossing around statements that are invalid or media driven lies.
Take the Kamala “Cackling” Harris rallies and tarmac pics that are packed, but when you look closer are altered photos where the fool in charge missed the reflections on the plane that shows the tarmac was empty or the people in the seats have distorted face and 2 sets on overlapping hands! It’s a game to account for the next attempt to steal the election like in 2020. Instead of using proven dead voters like then, they’ll probably play a little AI game to add a few fake electronic votes this time around!
You right Wayne Trump lovers love to lie. That’s not how it went. Patrol is going nowhere. Just like your orange boy ain’t going nowhere but to jail. Lol
Uh no, here is what you are leaving out and distorting: Gina is very conservative. She’s anti-vax and spread misinformation about COVID. She compared Republicans facing persecution like Jews during the between Holocaust which is a very laughable take.
Pascal compared illegal immigrant children in cages to Jewish children in cages in concentration camps..yes he accidentally used a picture of kids from Palestine by mistake.
Here is also the major difference the two. When Disney asked them to stop, Pascal did, and Gina did not.
She did not actually say that the Republicans were being treated like the Jews during the Holocaust. If you actually read it, (Not the CBS/NBC/CNN “interpretation” of it), she pointed out that Nazi Germany got as bad as it did, because the people believed the propaganda that the Jews were to blame for their troubles. This ‘othering’ or dehumanisation of them made it easier for Neighbours to turn on each other. In no way did she mention either Republicans or Democrats. In saying “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”, it can be applied to both parties.
This article is bogus. She wasn’t fired, they just didn’t renew her contract, nor were they under any obligation to. The government can’t force association on private entities.
Wrong, you gillywig. They literally fired her via official social media for being “abhorrent”. Hop out of clown world and into real world for a second, please
They terminated her for her poliyical views which is against CA law.
No, California law says a company can fire a person for what they say and do of they feel like it will hurt thier image.
Actually look up the law next time.
Why do you care so much? Go to work or something, worry about yourself.