Actress Gina Carano has filed a lawsuit against Lucasfilm and Disney with the aid of X owner Elon Musk.
Carano previously starred in Lucasfilm and Disney's Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian, as Cara Dune from 2019 to 2020. The actress was infamously terminated from Lucasfilm in early 2021 after the company took issue with a post made to Carano's social media that referenced the Holocaust.
The actress announced her lawsuit in a Tuesday X post.
"After my 20 years of building a career from scratch, and during the regime of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Lucasfilm made this statement on Twitter, terminating me from The Mandalorian: 'Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm & there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural & religious identities are abhorrent & unacceptable,'" Carano wrote, citing Lucasfilm's 2021 statement announcing she was no longer employed with the company.
Carano said Lucasfilm's statement was a misrepresentation of the incident.
"The truth is I was being hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time," she wrote. "My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist. It was a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me."
The actress noted she never used "aggressive language" across social media and favored sharing "thought provoking quotes, pictures, and memes."
"Occasionally I used my own words, not with aggression but with respect & the occasional comedy to keep the mood light in dark times," Carano wrote.
Carano encouraged followers to scour her social media history to compare her record with Lucasfilm's claim that the actress engaged in "denigrating people based on their cultural & religious identities."
"Ask yourself why they were calling me a racist, was there any merit behind that or history of it whatsoever?" the actress continued. "No. Look at why I was called a transphobe--for making droid noises from Star Wars? 'Beep, bop, boop' was obviously directed to the online bullies and did not in any way denigrate transgender people."
The actress also noted she had questioned masking, lockdowns and vaccination efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, adding people should have been allowed to publicly discuss the pandemic without being "harassed" and "censored."
"Hollywood says they support female representation & equal rights. Why then were my male co-stars permitted to speak without harassment & re-education courses or termination, but I was not afforded the same right to exercise my freedom of speech," Carano wrote in reference to fellow co-star of The Mandalorian, Pedro Pascal, who shared posts similarly referencing the Holocaust, though was not terminated from the show. "Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment."
Carano said she had experienced "nothing but care and kind words" between fellow co-stars she had spoken to since her termination.
"I respect their right to free speech & do not have to think the same on every issue to be their friends & work with them & I know they feel the same towards me," she wrote.
The actress referenced an August post from X owner Elon Musk announcing the platform would fund lawsuits for users who were reprimanded by their employer for their activity on the platform.
"Quite the noble offer, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought anyone would take on my case against Lucasfilm/Disney," Carano wrote. "Still, I did respond back 'I think I qualify' & thousands of people agreed--but I did not expect anything."
The actress said she received an email from an X attorney who had been hired to investigate users experiencing real-world consequences from their employers for their activity on X.
"Turns out after sending them as much information as I could gather these past few months, my now lawyers & X believe whole-heartedly in my case & are moving forward," she wrote. "I would like to express my deepest gratitude & thank you to Elon Musk and X for giving me an opportunity to bring my case to light."
Carano said she wanted to "pick up where [she] left off" in her career as an actress prior to her termination.
"It has been difficult to move forward with the lies & labels stuck on me, backed & encouraged by the most powerful entertainment company in the world," Carano wrote. "I am grateful someone has come to my defense in such a powerful way & look forward to clearing my name."
Shortly after her announcement, Musk quoted Carano's post encouraging others who had been fired for their posts on the platform to join the lawsuit.Loading...
"Hello," responded actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who starred in the long-running ABC sitcom from 1988 to 1997 along with its subsequent 2018 revival season.
Roseanne was renewed for an eleventh season following the success of its revival tenth season but was cancelled shortly after Barr shared a post to X, then-Twitter, after comparing former advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, to science fiction franchise Planet of the Apes.
The eleventh season of Roseanne was later rebranded as The Connors as Barr's titular character was killed off from the series.
