Musk backs Disney star fired for ‘right-wing’ views
AN actress is suing Disney after she was fired from a Star Wars spin-off in a lawsuit funded by Elon Musk amid his war with the entertainment giant.
Gina Carano, 41, claims she was removed from Disney drama The Mandalorian because of her right-wing views.
Her male co-stars were allowed to make scathing remarks about Republicans while she was forced out, she alleges.
Ms Carano played Cara Dune, a rebel soldier turned mercenary, for the first two seasons of the show.
The actress is being funded by Mr Musk, who suggested earlier this week he is considering buying Disney, despite his fury at the $181billion company. The mogul has also lent his support to fellow tycoon Nelson Peltz, 81, father of Brooklyn Beckham’s wife Nicola, as he tries to get a seat on the Disney board. Mr Peltz has been linked with attempts to oust current Disney chief Bob Iger.
Mr Musk told the Disney boss to ‘go f*** yourself’ in December after he pulled Disney’s adverts from X, which Mr Musk owns, over its failure to tackle antisemitic posts. Ms Carano’s lawsuit, filed at a court in California, appears to be revenge for
Mr Musk, who is also the owner of Tesla and SpaceX.
Ms Carano, a former martial arts fighter, was fired by Lucasfilm in February 2021 and dropped by her agent over her inflammatory online posts. Lucasfilm said her remarks were ‘abhorrent and unacceptable’ because they had been ‘denigrating people based on cultural and religious identity’.
Her most controversial post claimed that history had been ‘edited’ and that ‘Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbours…. even by children’. Ms Carano’s previous posts had mocked transgender people, spread conspiracy theories and decried mask wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit alleges wrongful termination and discrimination, and demands that Lucasfilm recasts her and pays at least $75,000 in punitive damages.
Ms Carano also claims fellow actors Mark Hamill and Pedro Pascal compared Donald Trump and his supporters to Nazis but were not fired. Disney and Lucasfilm are yet to comment.