Los Angeles (AFP) – A "Star Wars" actor backed by Elon Musk's X is suing Disney for firing her over inflammatory social media posts about the Holocaust, the pandemic and trans rights.
Gina Carano, who had a major role in the wildly popular Disney+ series "The Mandalorian" until 2021, filed a lawsuit in California on Tuesday claiming wrongful termination.
The suit says Carano was expressing personal political views but was hounded by an "extreme progressive" online mob, and alleges that Disney's actions and comments had damaged her reputation and ability to find work in the future.
"Today is an important day for me -- I am filing a lawsuit against @lucasfilm & @Disney," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The lawsuit is being funded by X, a spokesman for the company confirmed to AFP.
Carano, an outspoken former martial arts fighter-turned-actor, was fired by Disney for what the company at the time dubbed "abhorrent and unacceptable" social media posts "denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities."
One particularly controversial post shared by Carano appeared to liken being a conservative in the United States to being Jewish in Nazi Germany. "Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews" because "the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews," the post said.
"How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?" it concluded, with a graphic photo of a Jewish woman being beaten in Nazi Germany. Another post appeared to mock a person for wearing multiple masks during the Covid-19 pandemic in California.
And Carano had earlier drawn the wrath of members of the trans community for adding "boop/bop/beep" as preferred pronouns on her Twitter profile.
In a statement Tuesday, Carano said she had "never even used aggressive language" but had shared "thought provoking" posts with "respect & the occasional comedy."
Both her statement and the lawsuit allege that Carano was afforded less right to exercise her freedom of speech than some of her male colleagues.
Carano said she had been contacted by an X lawyer offering to take on her case after she publicly replied to an open offer from Musk to help anyone fired after using X to exercise free speech.
"As a sign of X Corp's commitment to free speech, we're proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano's lawsuit," said an official post by X on Tuesday.
The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages Carano is seeking, but claims she lost a role on planned "Mandalorian" spin-off "Rangers of the New Republic" that would have been worth "$150,000 to $250,000 per episode." Disney did not respond to AFP request for comment.