When Gina Carano hit send on a social media post comparing Republicans living in the current American political climate to Jews during the Holocaust, she never expected to it would cause such an uproar that would lead to her firing from “The Mandalorian.”
Or so she says.
Carano, 38, was dismissed from her lead role as Cara Dune on the wildly popular Disney+ series last week after the hashtag #FireGinaCarano trended worldwide. That alone, she said, caught her off guard before she was ultimately dumped by Lucasfilm, which produces the “Star Wars” franchise.
“I was in utter shock and confusion when certain people said it was antis-Smitic,” Carano said in a written message to former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss. “Then, as I went to take it down, I noticed that the image was not the same as the one people were referencing. I was honestly confused: Should I take it down, or leave it up? I still don’t know the answer to that question, because taking it down only makes the mob attack you more.”
Carano did delete the post, which contained a black-and-white photo of an apparently beaten woman fleeing from attackers in the streets, along with a written message not in quotation marks, accompanied by a sad face emoji:
Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neghbors…even by children.
Carano also offered up the following words in quotation marks:
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
In a message to Weiss, Carano explained her intent.
“The image for me was a statement that people need to stand together and rise up, stop being so manipulated by the powers that believe they know what’s best for you and play games with our lives,” Carano said. “My heart has only ever had ultimate respect and love for the Jewish community.”
Carano, who became known for spreading unfounded conspiracy theories last year, peeled back the curtain in revealing that “The Mandalorian” executives wanted her to “use their exact wording for an apology over pronoun usage” after she briefly updated her Twitter bio to read “beep/bop/boop” as a way to mock people’s personal preferences. In the end, Carano said she found out she was fired from the show like everyone else – on social media.
She has since signed on for a producing and starring role in a new movie project backed by conservative website The Daily Wire.
Carano, a pioneer for women’s MMA before starting her acting career, last fought in August 2009, when she lost to Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight title in what was the first major MMA event headlined by a women’s bout. The TKO loss remains Carano’s only professional defeat.