Disney Must Fight Musk-Backed ‘Mandalorian’ Actor Firing Suit

Walt Disney Co. must face an Elon Musk-backed lawsuit over a former “The Mandalorian” star’s departure from the show, a Los Angeles federal judge ruled.

The company failed to establish that its employment of actress Gina Carano constituted First Amendment-protected expressive association, Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett of the US District Court for the Central District of California ruled Wednesday, tossing the company’s motion to dismiss.

Disney hasn’t “identified any evidence—in the Complaint or otherwise—to substantiate a claim that they employ public-facing actors for the purpose of promoting the ‘values of respect,’ ‘decency,’ ‘integrity,’ or ‘inclusion.’”

The former mixed martial artist’s case is expected to test the bounds of the California’s unique protection for employees to be politically active outside of their workplace without retaliation from their bosses. It comes as conservative groups target the entertainment giant‘s hiring practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Disney hasn’t shown yet that California’s strict protections for employees’ political speech unjustly burden the company’s expressive association rights, Garnett said.

Carano alleges that Disney wrote her character off the “Star Wars” spin-off mainly because of her political views. The show’s audience clashed with her on social media over her posts about gender identity, Covid-19, vaccines, and the 2020 election’s outcome.

The “last straw” leading up to Carano’s firing was her comparing the treatment of conservative supporters of former President Donald Trump to that of Jews during the Holocaust in a February 2021 Instagram post, according to the Disney’s court filings. Carano contends that her male co-stars weren’t punished for their liberal-leaning political posts, even when they also invoked the Holocaust.

But Garnett said Carano has sufficiently alleged that her firing could have been to deflect from criticisms of the company’s streaming business dealings and its controversial reorganization under then-CEO Bob Chapek.

Schaer Jaffe LLP represents Carano. O’Melveny and Myers LLP represents Walt Disney Co., Lucasfilm Ltd. and Huckleberry Industries US Inc.

The case is Carano v. Walt Disney, C.D. Cal., No. 24-cv-1009, 7/24/24.