Lucasfilm Folds To The Twitter Mob And Fires Gina Carano
The “Star Wars” franchise is known for featuring strong female characters, and Cara Dune, played by Gina Carano, on “The Mandalorian” is the perfect example.
Unfortunately for Carano, she doesn’t fit the mold of the super-woke Hollywood starlet, leading to fans calling for her firing on social media. As of yesterday, their campaign was successful.
Who Is Gina Carano? And What’s the Controversy?
Before her acting career, Carano made a name for herself as an MMA fighter. You have to be a badass to be a successful female MMA fighter, so it makes sense that Carano plays a badass character in The Mandalorian. She began her acting career during her MMA career, but it didn’t really kick off until her retirement. Although she has been in blockbuster films like Deadpool, she’s most well known for her role as the mercenary Cara Dune on The Mandalorian.
The fan backlash against Carano began over the summer after she was silent about the Black Lives Matter movement. Fans began to pressure Carano into speaking up (and some were bullying her by calling her a racist for not being vocal).
She responded by writing, “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 came under fire again in September for not putting her pronouns in her Twitter bio. She responded to the criticism by joking that her preferred pronouns were "boop/bop/beep."
This angered fans even further, as Star Wars fan and chair of Transgender Education Advocates of Utah Rebecca Green told Vanity Fair, “It’s surprising to me [that] Carano doesn’t recognize the vast gulf of privilege that separates her from the average trans person and the way her remarks play into that gulf by punching down at trans folks.”
Carano defended herself after the joke caused backlash on Twitter.
The first calls for her firing started in mid-November, when Carano tweeted a meme questioning why Democratic politicians want their constituents to wear masks. This led fans to call for her firing from The Mandalorian on Twitter.
Fortunately, many fans are coming to her defense, as YouTuber and Star Wars fan Andy Signore tweeted:
Lucasfilm Gives in to the Twitter Mob
On Wednesday, #FireGinaCarano began trending again on Twitter after the actress shared a post stating the American political climate resembles Nazi Germany. Her post was deleted, but screenshots circled on social media, along with renewed calls from the outraged Twitter mob that Disney and Lucasfilm fire her from The Mandalorian.
Sources say that Lucasfilm has been looking for excuses to fire Carano since November, and this was the final straw. Lucasfilm released a statement Wednesday night announcing that Carano had been fired, and called her social media posts “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
What Happened to Separating Entertainment and Politics?
I’m a big fan of pop-culture and an even bigger fan of civil discourse, so I like to view people as separate from their political views. As long as I think you’re a nice person and you’re kind to my friends and family, I don’t care what your political beliefs are. When it comes to celebrities with whom I politically disagree, it doesn’t matter today if I’m a fan of their work.
Those who perpetuate cancel culture seem to forget that a celebrity’s job is to entertain.
I’m old enough to remember when the majority of the public saw others and Hollywood celebrities like this. You’re much less likely to hear, “I disagree with her on that, but I love her on that show, and she seems like a cool person” today than you did 10 years ago. You’re more likely to hear fans calling for said celebrity to be fired from their respective role for voicing dissenting political opinions.
Carano isn’t the first celebrity to face backlash over political views. The Twitter mob tried to cancel Chris Pratt in October over alleged political views when, in reality, he’s silent about politics but vocal about his religious beliefs. Those who perpetuate cancel culture seem to forget that a celebrity’s job is to entertain. Though they have the freedom of speech to express their political views, it’s not required of their job, and fans aren’t entitled to know every little detail about their political views.
Closing Thoughts
Gina Carano isn't the first victim of the Twitter Mob, nor will she be the last. But if anyone can be fired over a single Instagram post, we're looking at a bleak future. Her character was a fan favorite on The Mandalorian, and even that wasn't enough to save her. It wasn't enough to save J.K. Rowling either. No one is exempt anymore.