Disney's Legal Problems Set to Get a Lot Worse

Elon Musk has thrown his weight behind right-wing actress Gina Carano, who is suing Disney, creating more legal drama for the company.

The former The Mandalorian actress filed the lawsuit for wrongful termination on Tuesday and wants Disney-owned company Lucasfilm, which makes the studio's Star Wars content, to reinstate her, per The Hollywood Reporter.

It follows in a line of legal woes for the Mouse House, including a long-running battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over its right to self-govern Orlando's Disney World.

She claimed in a lengthy post that Disney had fired her because she voiced her opinions on social media, particularly X, formerly Twitter.

Newsweek contacted Carano, LucasFilm and Disney by email for comment.

Carano wrote on Tuesday that "during the regime of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek" she was "hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time."

"Nothing could be further from the truth... My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist. It was a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me," Carano continued.

"The thing is I never even used aggressive language. I shared thought provoking quotes, pictures, memes & occasionally I used my own words, not with aggression but with respect & the occasional comedy to keep the mood light in dark times."

Carano was accused of comparing being a Republican today to being Jewish during the Holocaust, and of being an anti-vaxxer during the coronavirus pandemic, falsely alleging voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election and of being transphobic, but she has denied all of those claims.

"Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment. I have spoken to all my co-stars since I was fired & there is nothing but care and kind words between us," Carano added.

She then tagged X CEO Musk saying that he had put a callout to people who had been fired for sharing their opinions on his platform.

"To my surprise, a few months ago I received an email from a lawyer who had been hired by X to look into my story & many others. Turns out after sending them as much information as I could gather these past few months, my now lawyers & X believe whole-heartedly in my case & are moving forward," Carano wrote.

Musk himself reposted her statement and made a further callout to others, writing: "Please let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney."

Lucasfilm made this statement on Twitter, terminating me from The Mandalorian: "Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm & there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural & religious identities are abhorrent & unacceptable."

X confirmed it was supporting Carano in her legal battle.

"As a sign of X Corp's commitment to free speech, we're proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano's lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination," X's head of business operations Joe Benarroch told THR.

Lucasfilm confirmed it had fired the former MMA fighter in a statement on X in 2021.

In her lawsuit, Carano claimed to receive inequitable treatment compared to other co-stars on the other side of the political spectrum from her, including The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal, who had compared Donald Trump to Hitler.

"Defendants went so far as to try and convince Carano's publicist to force Carano to issue a statement admitting to mocking or insulting an entire group of people, which Carano had never done," the complaint reads, as per THR.

She is suing for wrongful discharge and sex discrimination and wants the court to force Lucasfilm to recast her and pay at least $75,000 plus punitive damages.

"Some of us have been unjustly singled out, harassed, persecuted and had our livelihoods stripped away because we dared to encourage conversation, asked questions, and refused to go along with the mob," she said in a statement.