Disney CEO Responds To Gina Carano Firing, Says They Aren’t Left-Leaning
A month after Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has finally made a response to the firing.
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Last month, Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian, with Lucasfilm stating that the actress was not currently employed with Lucasfilm, and that there were no plans for her to work at the studio in the future. Carano was also dropped as a client by UTA, per an agency’s spokesperson. For the first time, Disney has finally responded to the firing of Gina Carano.
While speaking during Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that he doesn’t see that Disney considers itself left-leaning or right-leaning, after a shareholder said Carano was fired from The Mandalorian because she’s a conservative. Chapek didn’t directly address Carano’s firing, but instead said that Disney stands “for values that are universal: respect, decency, integrity and inclusion and we seek to have the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live in.”
Before her firing, Gina Carano had a history of controversial social media posts, including mocking Twitter users who put their preferred pronouns in the bio, reportedly blocked users who supported the Black Lives Matter protests, questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, and the usefulness of wearing masks. Carano’s social media presence had many calling for her firing for months, yet after an Instagram post that compared being conservative to being in the Holocaust, Carano was fired soon after.
There have also been rumors that Disney and Lucasfilm were setting Gina Carano up to be a major part of their Star Wars presence on Disney+. During Disney’s 2020 Investor’s Day, the company announced a ton of new programs set in the Star Wars universe, but it is now rumored that Disney also planned on revealing a new series starring Carano’s character Cara Dune, but Disney decided not to after Carano’s social media controversies. It has been theorized that Carano might have been the lead on Rangers of the New Republic, a Mandalorian spin-off that has been surprisingly light on details so far.
Yet in the wake of getting fired from The Mandalorian, Gina Carano already set up a new movie with Ben Shapiro’s conservative website The Daily Wire, which will be viewable to subscribers on the site. While it’s not clear what this upcoming movie will be about, or who will want to star in a film opposite Carano at this point is still uncertain.
But it’s no surprise that Disney doesn’t want to come off as right-leaning or left-leaning. Disney wants viewer’s money no matter where it comes from. At a certain point, Gina Carano’s connection to Disney was simply in danger of costing the company too much, and Disney has still yet to directly address Carano’s firing. Disney kept Carano hired on The Mandalorian for quite some time even after the public backlash was becoming massive against Carano.
While many have said that they will boycott Disney+ and more specifically, The Mandalorian for firing Gina Carano, it looks like Disney made the right choice when it comes to Carano. Disney can’t say they’re for everyone when the company is hiring someone who is making such wild claims and offensive social media posts.
