Gina Carano Discusses her Disney Lawsuit
Gina Carano’s lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm is making waves, with the former MMA fighter and Star Wars actress forcing the issue of cancel culture into the news. As she gives interviews about the case, new details of her ordeal – and those of others in a similar boat – are coming to light. Last week, she appeared on Patrick Bet-David’s PBD Podcast, where, aside from announcing that she’s developing her own productions, she mostly reiterated what we already knew (although she revealed that Kathleen Kennedy was cold towards her from their first meeting on, which, color me surprised). More recently, Carano spoke to conservative Canadian news outlet The Post Millennial about the lawsuit, as well as the fallout from her public firing and defaming, and she shares what her prospects after the blow-up were like.
“I tried to get [a] voice acting agent because I think anime would be something really fun to get into. And the first thing that lady asked me— the first question— ‘well, how is your relationship with Disney?’ And I was like, ‘well, they fired me.’ But, you know, I was just kind of like, this is stuck on me. This is like, all these things are stuck on me.”
That’s a big deal, and I imagine it’ll be important for the lawsuit as well. Not only can Gina Carano not get an agent, even for voice-acting, where people wouldn’t know it was her unless they looked into it, but they directly reference Disney when they question her. And I’m sure this was the intention when they issued that ridiculous statement; it was Disney throwing its weight around as much as it was about tarnishing Carano’s name. That’s how people behave when they think they’ll hold that much power forever; what a difference a few years of flops make.
After describing her attempts to find work now:
“It’s like I’ve been in this desert where I belong nowhere. I’m alone… And so I feel like I’m sitting here in the desert and just trying to stay positive and trying to rebuild, you know, getting doors closed on me.”
She then talks about Clifton Duncan, a Broadway actor who was canceled after refusing to take the COVID vaccine, and what their resistance to pressure from their industries could mean in the larger sense:
“They kicked him out and ruined his entire career and then he was waiting tables and just he’s been in the desert… And so many of us have been in the desert because we were doing the right thing. And now some of our stories are starting to come and hopefully rehabilitate and make a true change and really we can see things are what they are now.”
“I just feel like those opportunities wouldn’t have been there had some of us not spoken up and just shook the cage free early on. And so what a cool thing. I mean, it sucked so bad, but it needed to be done. And certain people actually did it. And I was just so I’m so grateful I was one of those people.”
This is perhaps the most important part: the lawsuit, as well as people like Carano and Duncan refusing to comply with ridiculous and rights-suppressing mandates, will make it easier for others to resist – or, preferably, avoid – having to go through what they did. An unfair practice is changed by making it too painful to force it on people, and if this lawsuit is successful, cancel culture could be on its way out (though it’ll likely be a long way).
Carano also mentions how important Elon Musk’s backing is, as Disney “can put you in court for years” and make a lawsuit so expensive that most lawyers won’t take the case. However, with Musk and his attorneys in her corner, Carano is confident: “We all feel pretty confident that this is not something that they’re gonna be able to dismiss.” It makes you wonder how many others have tried and failed to sue Disney or other powerful companies and couldn’t get anyone willing to represent them. It appears Disney has requested forty days to try to get the case dismissed, so it’s a waiting game right now, but this looks like it’ll be a monumental year – or however long this takes – for individual freedoms in the entertainment industry and hopefully beyond.
