Disney has cut ties with Mandalorian actor and mixed martial artist Gina Carano after she compared being conservative today to being Jewish in Nazi Germany on social media.
“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano’s talent agency, UTA, has also dumped her, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Carano played former Rebel drop trooper Cara Dune in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, the first Star Wars television series on Disney Plus.
She has stirred controversy in recent months by criticizing people who specify their preferred pronouns; she also denied the existence of systemic racism.
Carano ignited fresh fury on Tuesday night when she shared a post implying that conservatives are treated like Jews in Nazi Germany.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children,” the post said. “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 also posted several conspiratorial messages on her various social media channels, including a “Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself” meme on Twitter and Instagram. Another of her posts mocked people wearing masks in California.
The hashtag #FireGinaCarano started heating up on social media Wednesday, with many sharing screenshots of her past comments and tagging Disney and Star Wars in the posts.
Carano has not commented on the firing, but she did retweet and respond to some of her supportive fans on Wednesday.
Disney recently announced that it has a raft of Star Wars TV shows in the works, including a direct spinoff from The Mandalorian called Rangers of the New Republic. No cast members have been announced for that project, but many had expected Carano’s character to appear in it.
Carano’s firing comes in the same week that Lux Pascal, sister of The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal, opened up about transitioning in a Spanish magazine.
“My sister, my heart, our Lux,” Pedro Pascal wrote on Instagram Tuesday, in a post featuring the magazine cover.
Carano backed away from her comments about preferred pronouns last November, when she credited Pascal with helping her “understand why people were putting them in their bios (on social media).”
“I won’t be putting them in my bio but good for all of you who choose to. I stand against bullying, especially the most vulnerable & freedom to choose,” she wrote.
Carano launched her career as an MMA fighter before beginning her acting career a decade ago. She has appeared in several action films, including Fast & Furious 6 and Deadpool.
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