Actress Gina Carano, who was fired from Disney’s “Mandalorian” after an Instagram post comparing Jews’ suffering and oppression during Nazi Germany to being hated “for political views,” filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging discrimination and wrongful termination.
In the suit—which is being bankrolled by Elon Musk—Carano’s lawyers pointed to other posts made by her co-star Pedro Pascal and other Disney employees as evidence of her wrongful termination.
“Even though ‘the Force is female,’ Defendants chose to target a woman while looking the other way when it came to men,” the lawsuit states. “While Carano was fired, Defendants took no action against
male actors who took equally or more vigorous and controversial positions on social media.”
Carano’s lawyers referenced a post made by the late actor Carl Weathers in which he made a comparison to the Nazis while asking “who gets to decide what is appropriate for me or my child to read?”
The lawsuit argues that lack of retaliatory action from Disney against Weathers “demonstrates their discrimination against Carano on the basis of her sex and/or political beliefs,” adding that “Weathers’ comments were interpreted to attack Republicans, so he was given a pass.”
The lawsuit went on to invoke “Mandalorian” co-star Pedro Pascal’s social media posts in support of transgender rights, the Black Lives Matter movement, and more. In one post highlighted by the suit, Pascal compared former President Donald Trump to Hitler and his administration’s handling of the Southern border to Nazi Germany as well.
Disney “did not comment on, let alone condemn Pascal’s social media comments,” the lawsuit reads, before going on to highlight a post in which Pascal used the popular Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie to advocate in support of Black trans lives and defunding the police.
“Pascal was not disciplined, required to review documentaries on any of these topics or speak to
individuals with contrary points of view, or pressured to apologize for any of his posts,” the suit states. “His employment was not terminated, and Defendants made no public statements about his social media posts, much less refer to them as ‘abhorrent.’”
The invocation of Pascal’s post in the suit drew outrage from several social media users who similarly support LGBTQ rights.
“It’s an embarrassment. She’s literally angry Pedro Pascal didn’t get fired for supporting trans people…” wrote one X user.
“Not only did Gina Carano shamelessly & selfishly use Carl Weathers’ name just days after his passing, she’s actively attacking Disney for not firing Pedro Pascal for being supportive of the transgender community,” posted someone else. “The woman is trash. No wonder she has the support of Elon Musk.”
“It truly seems like what broke Gina Carano’s brain is that fandom internet loves Pedro Pascal and doesn’t like her,” quipped another person.
In an X post detailing the lawsuit, Carano noted that allegations she is transphobic center on her decision to temporarily list “boop/bop/beep” as her pronouns in her bio.
“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,” she said.
After she took the bio down, Carano wrote that Pascal had helped her “understand why people were putting them in their bios” and said she stands against bullying.
The lawsuit also referenced actor Mark Hamill’s posts comparing Trump and his supporters to Nazis, as well as Disney’s decision to rehire James Gunn, who had previously been fired for offensive social media posts.
According to the suit, “Carano respects the rights of her co-stars to express their views on social media, even if they differ from her own, and she remains personally fond of each of them.” However, the lawsuit highlighted the posts in order Defendants’ treatment of “to demonstrate the discriminatory treatment Carano endured at the hands of” Disney.
Carano’s suit is demanding Disney reinstate her on the show.
