Disney Files Motion to Dismiss Gina Carano’s Lawsuit

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Disney wants to make Gina Carano’s lawsuit go away. If you’ll remember, the former MMA star was fired from her Star Wars role by Disney and Lucasfilm ostensibly for sharing a post in her Instagram stories – but actually, she argues, for her political opinions concerning forced pronoun declarations and her unwillingness to submit to a struggle session over it. Carano is suing the company with backing from Elon Musk. Carano’s lawsuit argues that her firing was discrimination and wrongful termination. Now, Disney has filed a motion to dismiss that says the company “has a constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech, such that the First Amendment provides a complete defense to Carano’s claims.” They’re also claiming an exception to California’s protection for employees over political speech for employers like entertainment or media companies and using an argument written by one of Carano’s attorneys to back them up. There are other counter-arguments as well, like saying it’s their right to choose which speech they don’t want to associate with (Carano’s) and which they do (Pedro Pascal’s and Mark Hamill’s, when they called Trump supporters Nazis.)

I’m not a legal expert, so I have no idea if the motion to dismiss is valid or how likely it is to be granted. To me, it looks bad that they’re using an argument used by one of Gina Carano’s own lawyers to undermine her claims. They’re also coming right out and saying that they’re being prejudicial in the political speech they do and don’t want to associate with and that it’s their right to do so. Whether or not this holds up in court, it’s a pretty glaring message to half the country that they think you’re Nazis. I don’t know how much attention people are paying to this lawsuit, but seeing that declared in a legal document can’t be good for Disney’s dwindling customer base. They just told anyone who doesn’t vote the way Disney demands they do that they hate them; whatever else happens with Carano’s suit, that it got Disney to admit this so publicly and proudly is a big deal. Personally, I’m on her side, but she’s also filing this lawsuit in California, where everyone involved almost certainly agrees with Disney, and the courts in this country are not as impartial as they’re supposed to be anymore. We can laugh all we want (and it’s kind of funny that Disney is calling Carano an anti-Semite for saying the Nazis killed “thousands” of Jews instead of “millions,” as though this is some deeply-held belief and not an obvious rushed mistake of the kind people make when posting on social media), but I wouldn’t count Disney out of this.