Gina Carano Continues To Spark Controversy For The Mandalorian [UPDATED]

Holocaust comparison causes new outcry

Chris De Hoog
February 10, 2021
3 Minute Read

The Mandalorian actress and former MMA fighter Gina Carano has been under public scrutiny for her conservative social media posts since last summer, but a new Instagram post has renewed the call for Disney to fire her.

[UPDATE: io9 has received a statement from a Lucasfilm representative confirming that the actress has been terminated from The Mandalorian. “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” She has also been released from her agents, United Talent Agency. There is no further word on the future for the character she portrayed, Cara Dune, in further seasons. Original story follows.]

Carano shared an Instagram story from another account comparing the Nazi oppression of Jewish people in Germany during World War II to the current treatment of those with right-wing opinions. “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,” reads the original post. “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

In response, the hashtag #FireGinaCarano began trending soon after as fans called for Disney, Lucasfilm, and The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau to fire the actress, who plays Cara Dune on the hit streaming show. This is not the first time the former UFC fighter has inspired such an outcry.

Carano caused waves in September when she seemingly mocked the practice of listing one’s pronouns in social media biography by listing herself as “beep/bop/boop.” She claimed to have received daily harassment for months to make the gesture of solidarity, and denied accusations of transphobia, tweeting it had “zero to do with mocking trans people & [everything] to do with exposing the bullying mentality of the mob that has taken over the voices of many genuine causes.”

Before that, Carano had stood her ground when asked—politely and impolitely—to express support for the Black Lives Matter movement, as social unrest embroiled the United States. Likewise, she chose to defy the more hostile voices. “In my experience, screaming at someone that they are a racist when they are indeed NOT a racist & any post and/or research you do will show you those exact facts. Then I’m sorry, these people are not ‘educators’.. they are cowards and bullies,” she wrote.

Despite her defensive comments, Carano joined the alt-right socia media platform Parler following the American election in November, joining the likes of FOX News pundits, senator Ted Cruz, and other right-wing agitators. She was noted liking tweets that accused election fraud and, later, praised the perpetrators of the Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6.

Gina Carano made the jump to acting after two years fighting in professional mixed martial arts, where she held a 7-1 record. She appeared in Blood and Bone, Fast & Furious 6, and Deadpool before landing a recurring guest role on The Mandalorian as a Alderaanian Rebel droptrooper with a grudge against the Empire.

Disney and Lucasfilm have made no comment on Gina Carano’s future with the Star Wars franchise, though it’s rumoured that she was meant to feature in the forthcoming Rangers of the New Republic series.