Ex-Star Wars actress ‘moved to tears’ over judge’s latest decision with Disney lawsuit

A judge has ruled that former Star Wars actress Gina Carano’s lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company can move forward, giving Carano the chance “to clear my name.”

The ruling by California-based Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett stated that the defendants in this case, Disney, had “failed to set forth an ‘impenetrable defense’ under the First Amendment.” As such, Disney’s motion to throw out Carano’s lawsuit, filed in April, has been denied, read the decision on Wednesday.

“I am moved to tears,” Carano, who played Cara Dune in The Mandalorian Disney+ series, wrote on X. “After a brutal 3 1/2 years, I am being given the opportunity to move forward in the court of law before the judge and my peers to clear my name. I am so grateful for this opportunity. What happened to me was unacceptable, absurd and abusive, among other things. It should not have happened to me, and it should not happen to anyone else moving forward. Let it stop here.”

Carano was fired in February 2021, shortly after she posted on Instagram that Jews in the Holocaust were beaten up simply for their religious beliefs, with the post questioning, “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?” While Lucasfilm has stated online that her social media posts were “denigrating people based on their cultural & religious identities,” Carano has contended that “nothing could be further from the truth” when she revealed she filed her lawsuit this year.

Carano’s lawsuit is being financially backed by social media platform X, as owner Elon Musk announced last year that those who were mistreated or fired from their employer “due to posting or liking something on this platform” would have their legal bill funded by the platform. The actress gave her thanks to Musk for “standing for justice for all of humanity.”

Since filing her lawsuit, Carano has been very critical of her firing by Disney, arguing there was a double standard present in the company’s decision to part ways with her. In an April interview on The Sage Steele Show, Carano said she had never shared her views on controversial topics prior to 2020, but noted how her co-stars were “easily allowed” to share their personal views. 

Carano said in a March interview that “clearing my name” is the main purpose of this lawsuit. She also reiterated her defense for her original social media post, arguing that the German government was able to become as powerful as it was in the 1930s and 1940s because it was “OK to hate this person next to you.”

“That’s how we get to dangerous places,” Carano said. “And history does repeat itself.”