Disney
Actress and former UFC fighter Gina Carano has scored another win in her Elon Musk-backed lawsuit against Disney over her firing from their Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
The lawsuit alleges wrongful termination and discriminatory treatment against Carano, who was fired from The Mandalorian in 2021 due to offensive posts she made on social media.
On Instagram, Carano shared a post that compared the treatment of Republicans in 2020’s America — Carano is an outspoken supporter of Republican Presidential nominee and 34-time convicted felon Donald Trump — to that of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors… even by children. 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,” read the post, which was shared to Carano’s Instagram story.
After a few years of making little-seen movies for the right-wing outlet The Daily Wire, Carano decided to sue Disney earlier this year after she received backing from Musk.
Her latest win against Disney comes via U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, who ruled that the case must go to trial despite the Mouse House’s attempts to get it dismissed. Reports from earlier this year suggested The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal could be called to testify in the case.
“‘Having considered the parties’ submissions, the relevant law, and the record in this case, the Court DENIES the Motion,’ U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett wrote earlier this week.”
“In refusing to give the green light to Disney’s hopes of taking the matter to another court and overturning her July 24 decision rejecting their motion for dismissal, the ruling has set the clock ticking on the trial.” [via Deadline]
The ruling will allow Carano’s legal team to move forward with the discovery phase of the proceedings, which Deadline says will allow them to “see what went on internally at Disney three years ago in the lead-up to the firing of” Carano.
In addition to playing Cara Dune on The Mandalorian, Disney was also developing a live-action series titled Rangers of the New Republic that would’ve featured Carano’s character.