The Mandalorian: Gina Carano sues Disney for wrongful dismissal

Gina Carano, former actress in the Star Wars universe, announced on Tuesday that she was filing a complaint against Disney, because she believes that her dismissal was motivated by its controversial positions on the Holocaust, the pandemic or the rights of transgender people. This legal procedure, supported and financed by Elon Musk, boss of X known for his conservative positions, is a new example of the cultural wars which deeply divide the United States.

In The Mandalorian, taken from the “Star Wars” universe, Gina Carano played Rebel Alliance soldier Cara Dune, one of the recurring roles in the series, before being landed by Disney in 2021. In her complaint, she explains having been harassed online by “left-wing extremists”, and believes that her employer has tarnished her reputation and reduced her chances of being employed in the audiovisual industry.

Disney had announced that it was parting ways with this actress specializing in martial arts because of her “odious and unacceptable messages” on social networks, “denigrating people on the basis of their cultural and religious identity”. Gina Carano notably equated being an American conservative with the isolation of Jews in Nazi Germany. “Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews,” because “the government made their own neighbors hate them simply because they were Jewish,” she wrote on "Is it hatred of someone for their political opinions?"

She accompanied this publication with a photo of a Jewish woman beaten under Hitler's regime. The actress also made fun of a person wearing multiple masks during the Covid-19 pandemic in California in another post. She also sparked controversy by adopting “boop/bop/beep” as pronouns on her social media profile, a decision seen by her detractors as a dig at transgender people.

In a statement released Tuesday, Ms. Carano said she “never used aggressive language.” According to her, her publications were intended to “make people think”, and were published with “respect and occasional humor”. Her complaint argues that the actress did not benefit from the same latitude in terms of freedom of expression as some of her male colleagues. The social network “We are proud to financially support Gina Carano’s procedure,” Elon Musk’s company underlined Tuesday in an official message. Asked by AFP, Disney did not comment.