Former Star Wars actress Gina Carano was fired from her role in 2021 and has been pretty vocal ever since — even catching the eye of fellow Disney critic Elon Musk.
The Walt Disney Company headquarters in California
With Musk’s encouragement (and money), Carano filed a lawsuit in California federal court against Disney and Lucasfilm. Disney later requested to dismiss the suit, but now, Carano’s team has fired back.
On April 10th, Disney requested the dismissal of Carano’s wrongful discharge and sex discrimination lawsuit, saying that Carano was fired because of her decision “to publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people—notably, not ‘thousands…’” This ended up being the “final straw” for the House of Mouse.
via The Hollywood Reporter, Jesse Grant/Getty Images
But, Carano’s team isn’t keen on Disney’s request for dismissal, according to a new report from Deadline. A response to the motion to dismiss was filed by Carano’s team on May 9th, and states:
“After admitting that they discriminated against Carano for her personal political beliefs and subjected her to disparate treatment from her similarly situated male co-stars, The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm LTD, and Huckleberry Industries (collectively, “Defendants”) assert that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives them absolute immunity…Defendants are incorrect.”
©Disney
The response continues, “Neither the First Amendment itself nor the few cases applying the First Amendment in the context of casting give employers the right to control or punish the personal speech of employees. None of Carano’s comments reference Defendants, Star Wars, or The Mandalorian, or had anything to do with Defendants. Carano’s claims do not seek to impose any message on Defendants or to change Defendants’ speech in any fashion.”
According to Carano’s team, the motion to dismiss should be denied as “the First Amendment does not give Defendants the carte blanche authority to terminate Carano for expressing her personal beliefs.”
The Mandalorian
“As to the specifics of Carano’s Complaint, and contrary to Defendants’ assertion, Carano did not disparage anyone, and she certainly did not ‘publicly trivialize the Holocaust,’ let alone ‘grotesquely’ do so,” the recently filed response argues.
Disney is seeking a June 12th federal court hearing in Los Angeles, California before Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett for the potential dismissal. Lawyers for Disney say the suit should be dropped “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.”
The Walt Disney Company
Stay tuned to DFB for the latest updates on this lawsuit and more Disney news.
Gina Carano Was Fired by Disney — Here’s What She Said Before Her Termination
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Rumors were going around that Disney has a clause in their contract that states you can’t justify express any views that go against the brand of Disney. It doesn’t sound like that’s actually the case. I thought that seemed a little odd to believe!
Whether or not she should’ve been fired for her social media statements, her acting was very wooden to me. I loved the character but her portrayal fell flat for me.
Sorry but Disney does have the autority to fire and hore who they choose for cause, just likeany other company. It’s obvious this out of work has-been actress is just trying to cash in and hoping for a settlement. She is only suing becasue Musk is paying her legal fees. You’d think with all the money she as made fighting and acting, she’d be able to afford her own attorney’s.