Gina Carano will never be returning to the Star Wars universe. Amid a social media scandal surrounding the actor, Lucasfilm, the production company behind Star Wars, announced that the star of their Disney+ series The Mandalorian is no longer employed by the company.
On Feb. 10, Carano, who played Cara Dune in both seasons of The Mandalorian that have been released, shared an anti-Semitic post on her Instagram Story, comparing the horrors that Jewish people faced in Nazi Germany to the political divide in the United States today. Following the post, The Mandalorian fans called for the Star Wars universe to drop her, making #FireGinaCarano trend on Twitter. Last night, the company confirmed her employment with Lucasfilm had already been terminated, calling Carano's recent social media posts "abhorrent and unacceptable."
This is not the first time Carano has posted offensive content, however. Read on to find out more about her social media history and to read Lucasfilm's full statement. And for a very different celebrity story about racism, check out Priyanka Chopra Says Racist Bullying Made Her Leave the U.S.
Carano was accused of mocking transgender and nonbinary people.
Gina Carano / Twitter via The Mary SueIn Sept. 2020, Carano posted "beep/bop/boop" in her Twitter profile in reference to people who put their preferred pronouns in their bio, and said that she was harassed by people who kept asking her to add hers, as reported by the Independent.
She later said that her Mandalorian co-star Pedro Pascal explained to her the importance and reasoning of putting real pronouns in one's Twitter bio. But, she added, "Beep/bop/boop has 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."
To see why this issue may have been particularly relevant to Pascal, check out Pedro Pascal's Sister Says He Helped Her Come Out as a Transgender Woman.
And she also shared election conspiracy theories.
Gina Carano/TwitterThen, in Nov. 2020, Carano posted anti-masking memes and spread conspiracy theories about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election on Twitter, leading Star Wars fans to demand that she be fired from The Mandalorian.
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The controversy started with her "likes" of posts against the Black Lives Matter movement.
Gina Carano/TwitterIn Aug. 2020, as reported by The Washington Post, Carano "liked" tweets that were against or making fun of the Black Lives Matter movement. She also had this to say when people asked her to speak up in support of the Black community: "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."
For celebrities who went a very different route when it comes to BLM, read 7 Celebs Who Shut Down Racist Comments on Social Media.
There were rumors she was going to appear on another Star Wars series, until Lucasfilm shut them down.
Silvia Elizabeth Pangaro / Shutterstock.comAs reported by io9, Lucasfilm said in a statement, "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."
The Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian came out in mid-December, but, as io9 reports, some thought Cara Dune would appear in the upcoming series Rangers of the New Republic. Now it is clear that that won't be the case, unless another actor is brought on to play the role. (Some fans are clamoring for Lucy Lawless to take her place.)
It's not clear when exactly Lucasfilm cut ties with Carano and whether it was in reaction to her social media use. But, the 38-year-old actor did face some other consequences for her offensive posts. The Wrap reported on Feb. 10 that talent agency UTA and public relations firm ID PR have both dropped Carano as a client. And for other stars who faced consequences for their behavior, here are 6 Celebrities Who Were Fired After Being Accused of Racism.
