Ex-MMA star Gina Carano gets honest about Elon Musk's support in Disney lawsuit amid Hollywood snub
Gina Carano has shared her opinion regarding Elon Musk's support in her ongoing lawsuit against Disney. Additionally, she touched upon being sidelined by Hollywood in recent years, which includes being banned from future 'Star Wars' projects and removed from the United Talent Agency.
Having transitioned from professional combat sports competition to the entertainment industry over a decade ago, the Texas-born Carano gradually built her brand as a movie and TV star. One of her biggest on-screen roles to this day has been that of Cara Dune (2018-2021) on 'The Mandalorian,' a TV series that is a part of the famous 'Star Wars' Hollywood franchise.
In Feb. 2021, 'Lucasfilm,' the production house for 'The Mandalorian,' announced that Carano had been fired. The producers and other concerned parties suggested that in a post, the MMA star had compared modern-day Republicans in the US to the oppressed Jewish people under the Nazi regime.
In the ensuing years, Carano worked primarily with right-wing filmmakers and production houses. That includes a notable collaboration with Ben Shapiro, a Jewish ring-wing US political commentator. Moreover, after filing in Feb. 2024, the Gina Carano Disney lawsuit has been a hot-button topic in the sports and entertainment realms.
With Gina Carano fired from 'The Mandalorian' and reportedly being blacklisted by most other major production houses as well, she's now suing Lucasfilm and its parent company Disney. Intriguingly, in August 2023, X (formerly known as Twitter) owner Elon Musk claimed that he'd support anyone who's faced workplace discrimination for the views they expressed on X.
On that note, in Feb. 2024, Carano posted a tweet, revealing that Musk and his team had agreed to fund her legal expenses in a lawsuit against Disney. Another factor is that the South African-born US billionaire himself has long been at odds with Disney.
Musk was previously accused of publicly supporting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming that Jewish people promoted "hatred of whites" and have been transporting "hordes of minorities" into countries that have predominantly been inhabited by white people.
In addition, Elon Musk responded to Gina Carano's tweet by urging other people wronged by Disney to join in. Considering the variables at play, many opined that his decision to sponsor Carano's lawsuit against Disney was primarily driven by his feud with the multi-billion-dollar American media giant.
Regardless, in a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, the women's MMA pioneer expressed her support for Musk and stated:
"I think it's pretty incredible what he is doing ... A lot of billionaires put their money into buying islands and building bunkers. Elon Musk is using his money to fight massive injustice battles."
Regarding being blacklisted by most major Hollywood production houses and facing discrimination in the US entertainment dominion, Gina Carano implied that she'll remain steadfast in her commitment to her socio-political values. The 41-year-old reiterated her thankfulness toward Musk for helping her and said:
"You become unhirable. And then it becomes OK for other people to disrespect you. And then you're just carrying around this disrespect, and you're shouldering all this shame, and it affects your physicality, your mentality. You're just kind of hopeless. So to be able to fight back -- it makes me feel like, 'OK. That feels good.'"
A closer look at Gina Carano's firing from Disney's 'The Mandalorian'
Before being fired by Lucasfilm, Gina Carano, who many believe espouses right-wing socio-political views, opposed a few other left-wing social movements. She'd been accused of making transphobic assertions and deriding the LGBT community as a whole.
Besides, the veteran athlete also faced criticism for purportedly promoting conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and opposing the use of anti-COVID masks and vaccines.
Many believe that Gina Carano's opinions and choices went against the left-wing socio-political ideology of most American multinational corporations, including Disney.
Furthermore, her tweet, likening today's right-wing individuals and Republican supporters to embattled Jewish people facing the Holocaust, was viewed as the straw that broke the camel's back.
During her aforementioned interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Carano alluded that monetary gain isn't the main aim of her lawsuit against Disney.
'Conviction' appeared to suggest that her biggest goal with the lawsuit is vindication -- absolving her name and disproving the detractors who've labeled her as a transphobe, anti-Semite, and political conspiracist, and have used other epithets.
Meanwhile, Disney has until April 9, 2024, to address the lawsuit. While Disney has chosen to refrain from issuing any noteworthy statement on it thus far, the case is expected to play out in court in the months to come.