Elon Musk backs actress Gina Carano in suing Disney and Lucasfilm
On Tuesday, Gina Carano, who held a significant role in the highly acclaimed Disney series "The Mandalorian" until 2021, initiated a lawsuit in California alleging wrongful termination.
Carano's lawsuit contends that she was merely expressing personal political opinions but faced relentless harassment from an "extreme progressive" online community. It alleges that Disney's responses and statements harmed her reputation and jeopardised her future employment prospects.
In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter), Carano declared, "Today is an important day for me -- I am filing a lawsuit against @lucasfilm & @Disney."
The funding for the lawsuit is being provided by X, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to AFP.
Carano, known for her candid demeanour and transition from martial arts fighter to actor, was terminated by Disney due to what the company described at the time as "abhorrent and unacceptable" social media posts that "denigrated people based on their cultural and religious identities."
One particularly contentious post shared by Carano seemed to draw a comparison between being a conservative in the United States and being Jewish in Nazi Germany.
It stated, "Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews" because "the government first made their neighbours hate them simply for being Jews." The post then questioned, "How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?" accompanied by a graphic photo depicting a Jewish woman being assaulted in Nazi Germany.
Another post appeared to ridicule an individual for wearing multiple masks during the Covid-19 pandemic in California.
Carano had previously incurred backlash from members of the transgender community for adding "boop/bop/beep" as her preferred pronouns on her Twitter profile.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Carano maintained that she had "never even used aggressive language" but had shared "thought-provoking" posts with "respect and the occasional comedy."
Carano's statement and the lawsuit assert that she was granted fewer rights to exercise her freedom of speech than some of her male counterparts.
Gina Carano stated that she was contacted by a lawyer from X who offered to represent her after she publicly responded to an open offer from Musk to assist individuals terminated for exercising free speech on X.
"As a sign of X Corp's commitment to free speech, we're proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano's lawsuit," X stated in an official statement released on Tuesday.
The lawsuit does not detail the monetary compensation Carano is pursuing. However, it asserted that she missed out on a role in the anticipated Mandalorian spin-off, "Rangers of the New Republic", estimated to be valued between "$150,000 to $250,000 per episode."