Disney tries to get Gina Carano’s Star Wars lawsuit dismissed by citing First Amendment

Disney claimed that the suit against them is in violation of their First Amendment rights. This despite the fact that they terminated Carano for her comments. Disney 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.

"Disney makes this motion on the grounds that Disney has a constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech, such that the First Amendment provides a complete defense to Carano’s claims," the document reads, per Fox.

In their motion, the massive entertainment company said that they have a similar purview to that of a newspaper, which can decide which editorial perspectives writers and can run at their outlets. They believe that they have this kind of control over artists' statements even when those statements are not made as part of a production, on set, or while representing the company, but in the artists' personal lives.

Carano is represented by attorneys working with Elon Musk's X after Musk vowed to defend those who lost their jobs over social media posts, and that is precisely why Carano was released. She lost her representation in Hollywood and was smeared by other actors who claimed that she was offensive in stating that her pronouns were "beep/boop."

Carano, Disney claimed, "came to distract from and undermine Disney's own expressive efforts" in her online comments. For them, the "final straw" was a post that opposed the hatred of individuals or groups of individuals over their religion or political views. For Disney, this was a step too far.