“Unless you want to go another round, one of us is going to have to leave, and I was here first,” said Gina Carano’s former Rebel shock trooper Cara Dune in Season 1 of Disney+’s The Mandalorian. Those scripted words from the ex-MMA fighter have an added resonance today, as Disney failed to get Carano’s discrimination lawsuit over her 2021 firing from the Star Wars series dismissed
“Defendants have not identified any evidence—in the Complaint or otherwise—to substantiate a claim that they employ public-facing actors for the purpose of promoting the ‘values of respect,’ ‘decency,’ ‘integrity,’ or ‘inclusion,’” asserts California-based Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett Wednesday in an order kneecapping Disney’s move to see Carano’s legal action tossed out (read the dismissal denial order here).
“Accordingly, Defendants’ invocation of the supposedly detrimental effects of Plaintiff’s ‘mere presence’ as one of Defendants’ employees lacks constitutional import.”
While no date has been set, unless the Force steps in, it is clear at this pivotal point Carano’s Elon Musk-backed suit is heading towards trial. A trial if the parties don’t reach a pricey settlement first, which is certainly not out of the question in an increasingly messy matter like this.
“At this stage in the litigation, the Court cannot conclude, as Defendants urge it to, that Plaintiff’s continued employment by Defendants would inhibit or intrude upon Defendants’ rights to expressive association,” said Judge Garnett earlier in the 23-page denial order, centering on Disney and fellow defendants’ Lucasfilm and Huckleberry Industries’ ability to choose who they do and don’t want be associated with. “As an initial matter, unlike the Boy Scouts or the Jaycees, Defendants are not members-only, nonprofit organizations. Instead, Defendants are for-profit corporations who, as relevant to this lawsuit, employ actors such as Plaintiff, as well as administrative staff, to create television series and films.”
Disney did not respond Wednesday to request from Deadline for comment on Judge Garnett’s order. If the company does respond, we will update this post.
In their April 9 dismissal motion against Gina Carano‘s wrongful-discharge and sex discrimination lawsuit over being fired from The Mandalorian, the Mouse House stated that the ex-martial arts fighter lost her Star Wars series gig in 2021 because of her decision “to publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people—notably, not ‘thousands’—was the final straw for Disney.”
A Star Wars of words has always been at the core of this dispute.
Claiming to be curious rather than culturally callous, Carano insisted in her early February filing to get back her high-profile Mandalorian role of Rebel ranger Dune back and be awarded damages, that her words were “consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist” during the public dust-up three years ago.
Now that dust-up is looking increasingly scorched Earth, on both sides.
