Why Gina Carano is suing Disney over Mandalorian firing

American actress Gina Carano has filed a lawsuit against Disney and LucasFilm, the production company behind the Star Wars franchise, on the grounds of wrongful termination and discrimination regarding her 2021 firing from The Mandalorian.

Carano, 41, played Cara Dune in the first two seasons of the Disney+ Star Wars spin-off show from 2019-2020.

But in February 2021 she was dropped from the show the same day that she shared a post on her Instagram account that compared being a Republican in the current political climate to the persecution faced by Jewish people in Nazi Germany.

Here’s what we know so far about the lawsuit she filed in California’s District Court on Tuesday, which is being backed by Elon Musk and sees Carano seeking at least $75,000 (about £59,000) in damages.

Why was Gina Carano fired from The Mandalorian?

Carano was fired from The Mandalorian after sharing a post on her Instagram account that appeared to compare the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust to being politically conservative.

The post read: “Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews.

“How is that any different from hating someone for their political views.”

She was dropped by her talent agent and LucasFilm, the production company started by Star Wars creator George Lucas that is also behind The Mandalorian, the same day.

#FireGinaCarano began trending on Twitter, and LucasFilm released a statement saying: “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.”

Many of Carano’s fans then jumped to her defence, calling for Disney’s streaming service Disney+ to be cancelled.

Carano had previously been called out online for her stance against wearing masks to protect from coronavirus and mocking those who share their pronouns on social media. She also supported the false claims that voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election led to Joe Biden‘s victory over Donald Trump.

Why is Gina Carano suing Disney?

Carano is suing Disney and LucasFilm for wrongful termination and discrimination, claiming she was not given the right to “exercise my freedom of speech”.

Filed in California’s District Court on Tuesday, the suit alleges that the Walt Disney Company was at fault for her being dropped by her agency, UTA.

The court documents include claims that Disney and LucasFilm “targeted, harassed, publicly humiliated, defamed, and went to great lengths to destroy Carano’s career”, while the actress also claims she was treated differently to her male co-workers.

Carano is seeking a trial by jury as well as at least $75,000 (about £59,000) in compensatory damages.

Lawyer Gene Schaerr, of Schaerr Jaffe, said: “Disney bullied Ms Carano, trying to force her to conform to their views about cultural and political issues, and when that bullying failed, they fired her.

“Punishing employees for their speech on political or social issues is illegal under California law.”

She also shared a lengthy post on X on Tuesday detailing her decision and denying having compared Republicans to Jewish people in the Holocaust.

How is Elon Musk involved?

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk is backing Carano’s lawsuit via financial support from X Corp, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he owns.

Musk has long divided opinion with his stances on matters of free speech, and previously said he would fund the legal bill of anyone claiming they were “unfairly treated by [their] employer due to posting or liking something on [X].

In his own post on X, he also called for others to join the suit against Disney, later adding: “If you were discriminated against by Disney or its subsidiaries (ABC, ESPN, Marvel, etc), just reply to this post to receive legal support”.

What else has Gina Carano been in?

Carano is a former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and actress whose most notable on-screen appearances aside from The Mandalorian include her showing as Angel Dust in Deadpool in 2016 and as a member of Luke Hobbs’ (Dwayne Johnson) team in Fast & Furious 6.

Her acting debut came in the 2005 film Ring Girls, with her first major role coming as the lead in spy thriller Haywire.

She also appeared in NBC’s American Gladiators as ‘Crush’ in the late 2000s.