Gina Carano Gets A Settlement And Non-Apology From Disney

Disney knew they weren’t going to like the outcome of this lawsuit. As a result, Gina Carano is walking away from it as a richer woman, and with the satisfaction that the House of Mouse was forced to give up.

Not that they said so, not in so many words. For those who have forgotten how this lawsuit came to be, Gina Carano was hugely popular as Cara Dune on the first original Star Wars TV show that appeared on Disney+ in 2019, “The Mandalorian.” Her character appeared during the first two seasons of the show, but after the second season, Disney and Lucasfilm fired her, saying “her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” What did she actually say?

Carano was the subject of much criticism recently when, in a now-deleted Instagram post, she compared being a modern-day Republican to being Jewish during the Holocaust. The hashtag #FireGinaCarano has trended on social media in recent months after other incendiary comments by the television and film star.

Carano’s post read: “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. 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?”

Carano accompanied the comparison with a 1941 photo of the Lviv pogroms that saw the massacre of thousands of Jews in the Ukraine. The photo depicts a Jewish girl, stripped of her clothes and bloodied, being chased by boys and men with clubs.

The post was screenshot many times, and is still available on X with the hashtag that demanded she be fired. After Disney fired her in February 2021, she gave a long-form interview to Ben Shapiro about what happened, along with signing on to star in a Daily Wire movie production.

The Cara Dune character was written out of “The Mandalorian,” and a series revolving around the character was also scrapped. Gina Carano was persona non grata at Disney, even though her co-star Pedro Pascal was even more political than she was on social media. The difference? He was the “correct” kind of political for Disney, and Hollywood rewarded that by having him star in multiple projects.

And Gina Carano might have disappeared, except for Elon Musk. When Musk announced that he would bankroll lawsuits against Disney over discrimination, he immediately signed on to supporting Carano in her wrongful termination lawsuit against the company. Disney failed to get the case tossed on First Amendment grounds (specifically freedom of association), and once Carano’s lawyers won in court just this last April, forcing Disney to cough up discovery regarding other stars and their financial compensation, the company knew that it was either going to have to settle, or have a whole lot come out in court (the trial date was originally scheduled for this September, but had been pushed back to early 2026).

Complicating the case was Disney’s obvious Rachel Zegler problem. The actress had nearly single-handedly tanked the “Snow White” live action remake with much more political speech than Gina Carano ever uttered, and yet Disney didn’t cut her loose. In fact, Disney has had a lot of problems lately with loose lips costing them a lot of money (looking at YOU, George Stephanopoulos!), and a lawsuit where they were going to have to answer why some political speech was fine with them, but Gina Carano had to be fired, was going to get very dicey for them.

In the end, Disney had no choice, and the settlement is pure vindication for Gina Carano.
https://twitter.com/ginacarano/status/1953575719554232400
The full post reads:

I have come to an agreement with Disney/Lucasfilm @disney @Lucasfilm which I believe is the best outcome for all parties involved. I hope this brings some healing to the force.

I want to extend my deepest most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, @elonmusk a man I’ve never met, who did this Good Samaritan deed for me in funding my lawsuit.
Thank you Mr. Musk and @X for backing my case and asking for nothing in return.

To my lawyers at @GSchaerr Schaerr|Jaffe who walked me through this unknown territory, thank you for your wisdom and guidance.

I am humbled and grateful to God for His love and grace in this outcome.

I’d like to thank you all for your unrelenting support throughout my life and career, you’ve been the heartbeat that has kept my story alive. I hope to make you proud.

I am excited to flip the page and move onto the next chapter. My desires remain in the arts, which is where I hope you will join me.

Yes, I’m smiling.

From my heart to yours,
Gina

Disney, via Lucasfilm, had this to say for themselves in an “unsigned statement” which was sent out to the media.

A Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement provided to Variety, “The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Gina Carano to resolve the issues in her pending lawsuit against the companies. Ms. Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect. With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future.”

That, everyone, is not an apology. That is a serving of crow, being choked down by the top brass at Disney and Lucasfilm. The question now becomes, what do they mean by “identifying opportunities to work together” “in the near future”?

What it SHOULD mean, though it is far too early to tell, is the return of Cara Dune to “The Mandalorian” storyline when the movie that Disney is banking on being the next big Star Wars feature, “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” comes out in 2026. Star Wars, as a Disney-run franchise, has not done well. “The Mandalorian” did well for the first two seasons, and then stumbled in its third (with a notable detour and takeover of the single season of “The Book of Boba Fett”), and every other TV show except “Andor” has had major problems. Star Wars has hit franchise exhaustion, and Disney and Lucasfilm are hoping that the cuteness of Grogu (also known as Baby Yoda) will at least draw the fanbase back to the theaters. Will it help to put Cara Dune back in the story? It probably can’t hurt. Is Disney worried about upsetting their far-left fanbase if Gina Carano gets to work with them again? Seeing as that same fanbase didn’t show up to help Rachel Zegler, the studio is out of ideas, and the “Lilo & Stitch” remake is the only Disney movie to make a profit so far this year, as “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (yet another Pedro Pascal vehicle) has been struggling to break even. To put it bluntly, Disney is bleeding money, and settling with Gina Carano and offering her a future job was the quickest way to cut their losses before their dirty laundry could get aired in court.

Congratulations are in order for Gina Carano, who fought and won against the Disney juggernaut (albeit with the backing of an even bigger financial juggernaut named Elon Musk). While we don’t know how much money she is getting, it was enough to put a smile on her face. Disney’s non-apology is pathetic, but typical. Now we wait to see if they really will refocus away from the political in order to begin to rebuild their bottom line.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click

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