Disney Shot Down In Court Over Gina Carano Case

The whole ordeal stems from tweets that Carano made years ago in which she compared the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis to the treatment that modern day conservatives face in society. Many criticized her for the comparison, feeling it grossly insensitive. She did ultimately delete the tweet, but Disney felt such a statement was reprehensible and terminated their working arrangement with Gina Carano.

However, Carano feels her intent has been deliberately twisted by the media to try and make it sound as if she was trivializing the Holocaust. She states that was never her intent and she feels her reputation has been wrongfully slandered by such accusations. Disney is facing wrongful-discharge and sex discrimination lawsuits from Gina Carano in response.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett gave a statement denying Disney’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit from Gina Carano, saying, “Defendants have not identified any evidence — in the Complaint or otherwise — to substantiate a claim that they employ public-facing actors for the purpose of promoting the ‘values of respect,’ ‘decency,’ ‘integrity,’ or ‘inclusion.”

In other words, the judge feels that it is irrelevant how Disney feels about the tweets that Gina Carano made because they are an entertainment company that does not promote itself as hiring people based on their political beliefs or perceived moral standings. And it is certainly true that Disney has opted to work with other actors who were not exactly publicly popular. A fair number of actors they have utilized even have arrest records.

Interestingly, when Carano first filed the lawsuit, her legal team made it clear that part of her goal was actually to regain her role on The Mandalorian. So even with the animosity between Disney and Gina Carano, apparently the latter would still be willing to move past it all for the sake of working together. Carano’s career has definitely taken a hit since her firing by Disney, so perhaps she feels the company accepting her again would clear her public image.

As to the sex discrimination portion of the lawsuit, Carano points out that other actors have made very similar comments to hers and not been removed from their roles. She pointed out that Disney worked with Mark Hamill again, despite Hamill also invoking Nazis in comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, yet he did not face consequences like Gina Carano. Carano feels the difference is either due to Hamill being a man, or because his political beliefs are shared by Disney.

Regardless, with Disney’s dismissal of Gina Carano’s lawsuit not being accepted, that makes it clear that this legal saga is far from over. If Carano is successful, this would certainly not be the first former Disney actor who has challenged Disney and won. Scarlett Johansson won a settlement against them after they violated the terms for the release of Black Widow by releasing it for streaming at the same time it was in theaters.