Disney loses fight to dismiss Gina Carano’s wrongful termination suit

"Accordingly," Garnett said, "Defendants' invocation of the supposedly detrimental effects of Plaintiff's 'mere presence' as one of Defendants' employees lacks constitutional import."

"I am moved to tears. 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," Carano said on X.

"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," she continued.

"I quite literally fought to get to where I got to in my career through intense ups and downs, and I’ll keep up that fight to continue doing what I love. I appreciate all of you who stood by me and defended me, and I am so sorry that similar situations have happened to some of you. I want you to know that I see you and I stand with you," Carano said, before thanking Elon Musk for funding her suit.

https://twitter.com/ginacarano/status/1816294920782766403

Disney had tried to get rid of the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds, claiming that their firing of Carano was justified after she had made comments on social media about Covid mandates that they disagreed with. Carano has pointed out that many other Disney stars make controversial political comments and do not get fired. Mark Hammill, for example recently posted lies about a presidential candidate and he is still closely associated with the Disney brand.

Disney had further cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) in petitioning the United States District Court, Central District of California, to dismiss the case. They said that they have similar First Amendment claims as a newspaper, which can decide which editorial perspectives writers can run at their outlets.

In their view, this means they can control what their stars say in public and can use those comments to fire the stars, although, it seems only when those comments don't align with the corporate perspective. Disney said the comments did "publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people—notably, not 'thousands'—was the final straw for Disney."

Carano opposed Covid lockdowns, opposed forced vaccinations, and further opposed the open hatred directed at individuals who, during the pandemic, did not wish to take an experimental vaccine or remain locked in their homes at the will of the government.

They claimed that Carano "came to distract from and undermine Disney's own expressive efforts" through her social media posts. Their "final straw" was a post that opposed the hatred of individuals or groups of individuals over their religion or political views. Carano is represented by lawyers paid for by Elon Musk's X as part of their commitment to fight for free speech rights online.

"At this stage in the litigation, the Court cannot conclude, as Defendants urge it to, that Plaintiff’s continued employment by Defendants would inhibit or intrude upon Defendants’ rights to expressive association," Garnett said. "As an initial matter, unlike the Boy Scouts or the Jaycees, Defendants are not members-only, nonprofit organizations. Instead, Defendants are for-profit corporations who, as relevant to this lawsuit, employ actors such as Plaintiff, as well as administrative staff, to create television series and films."

Carano spoke to The Post Millennial about the suit in March, saying "So like, this is just gonna be a part of my story. And I get to hopefully shake free of all of those awful things that were reported and said about me and I get to move on now." Carano seeks damages from Disney and claimed that her words were "consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist."

Disney Gina Carano July 24 Order by The Post Millennial on Scribd