A judge has dismissed Disney’s bid to toss out actor Gina Carano’s lawsuit against the company, likely paving the way for the wrongful termination dispute to go to trial.
Carano filed suit against Disney and Lucasfilm earlier this year, claiming she was illegally fired from her role on the “Star Wars” show, “The Mandalorian,” in 2021 after airing her conservative political views on social media.
At the time of her ouster, Disney announced it was parting ways with Carano by calling her “social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities ... abhorrent and unacceptable.”
In a motion to dismiss filed in April, the company argued it had the “constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech” and were acting within First Amendment grounds.
In the April filing, Disney said an Instagram post by Carano likening the treatment of contemporary conservatives to Jewish people in Nazi Germany was the “final straw” in their decision to end their working relationship with the actor.
She had previously received blowback for social media posts mocking trans rights, criticizing the COVID-19 vaccine and questioning the results of the 2020 election.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett disagreed with Disney’s defense in her decision on Wednesday, asserting that the company had not provided evidence that it employs “public-facing actors for the purpose of promoting the ‘values of respect,’ ‘decency,’ ‘integrity,’ or ‘inclusion,’” and therefore had the right to fire her.
In light of her legal win, Carano shared an emotional Instagram post where she said she was “moved to tears” by the court’s decision.
“What happened to me was unacceptable, absurd and abusive, among other things,” she wrote in the Wednesday night post. “It should not have happened to me, and it should not happen to anyone else moving forward. Let it stop here.”
Carano’s lawsuit is being funded by Elon Musk via his company X, formerly Twitter.
Last August, the billionaire announced he would pay for the legal fees of anyone who believes they were fired for posts made on his platform.
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