Yesterday, we brought you the news that Disney has made moves to have Gina Carano's lawsuit dismissed. She claims that the studio unfairly fired her from The Mandalorian for expressing personal political opinions online, while the House of Mouse argues it had a First Amendment right to dismiss her.
The main point of contention is a February 2021 social media post which saw the Cara Dune actress compare the treatment of modern-day conservatives to the persecution of "thousands" of Jews in Nazi Germany.
Carano, who is seemingly angling to be rehired for future Star Wars projects (we're not sure how that would work), is being backed by X owner Elon Musk and has now responded to Disney's argument it had a "constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano's speech."
Here's what the former MMA star had to say in a lengthy X post:
Disney has confirmed what has been known all along, they will fire you if you say anything they disagree with, even if they have to MISREPRESENT, MALIGN, and MISCHARACTERIZE you to do it.
They are now on record letting everyone who works for them know that Disney will take any chance they get to control what you say, what you think or they will attempt to destroy your career. Glad we cleared that up.
The First Amendment does not allow Disney to wantonly DISCRIMINATE, which is what they have done in my case and frankly have now admitted they did. If you ever wanted to know what today’s ‘Disney values’ are, they just told you."
Carano isn't backing down but was a controversial figure even before the comments which got her fired. She'd shared posts voicing views against COVID restrictions, questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and got wrapped up in the debate surrounding trans rights.
For Disney, Carano's post - which, in part, read, "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?" - was the "final straw."
Stay tuned for updates on this developing story as we have them.