Disney has failed in its attempt to blast a lawsuit brought by TV and film star Gina Carano, who claims Disney illegally jettisoned her from the astronomically popular Disney+ "Star Wars" series, "The Mandalorian," in retaliation for her online speech expressing generally conservative political views.
On July 24, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett denied the motion from the Walt Disney Company to dismiss Carano's lawsuit.
In the decision, Judge Garnett specifically rejected Disney's attempt to claim that allowing Carano to sue them for terminating her, allegedly in violation of Carano's rights, would actually amount to a violation of the Disney Company's First Amendment speech and association rights.
Disney argued the lawsuit could result in a ruling which could force the company to be tied in some fashion to Carano's political views, which Disney said don't match its values, and would represent an assault upon Disney's ability to speak through its creative content - in this case, the online TV series, "The Mandalorian."
The judge, however, said this argument was off target.
"Here, ... Plaintiff’s Complaint does not take issue with the message or content of 'The Mandalorian,'" Judge Garnett wrote. "She does not allege, for example, that she was fired because (Disney) wished to have fewer female roles in the show, or that (Disney) made an artistic choice to modify the show’s cast to include only liberal-leaning actors.
"Instead, Plaintiff contends that Defendants fired her in retaliation for offthe-job political speech after attempting to make her renounce those comments and 'reeducate' her," the judge said.
Garnett was appointed to the federal district court in Los Angeles in 2022 by President Joe Biden.
The decision marks an important procedural moment in the case, as it means the court has cleared Carano's legal action to make the jump to the next stage.
In the complaint filed in February, Carano called upon "Star Wars" lore, likening Disney and its co-defendants Lucasfilm Ltd. and Huckleberry Industries to the iconic Imperial Death Star from numerous Star Wars films, accusing the companies of attempting to obliterate her career from orbit in retaliation for her political speech.
According to online reports, Carano's lawsuit may have been aided by billionaire Elon Musk because she was terminated, in part, for statements she made on Musk's social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter.
In the lawsuit, Carano asserts her abrupt firing from "The Mandalorian" series in February 2021 violated California's political discrimination law, which provides broad protections against employers terminating employees over their political speech.
The lawsuit also claims Disney discriminated against her on the basis of sex, because the studios did not similarly take action against Carano's male co-stars, including "The Mandalorian" lead actor Pedro Pascal and actor Mark Hammill, who portrays Luke Skywalker, both of whom have persistently expressed left-wing statements online, which, she notes, carry the potential to be as culturally divisive as a lightsaber blow to the arm.
"A short time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Defendants made it clear that only one orthodoxy in thought, speech, or action was acceptable in their empire, and that those who dared to question or failed to fully comply would not be tolerated," Carano wrote in her complaint. "And so it was with Carano."
Carano has claimed the firing cost her potentially many millions of dollars in lost income and other television and film opportunities. The characters in "The Mandalorian," for instance, appear headed to the big screen, as Disney appears to be turning the series into a feature film, tentatively titled "The Mandalorian and Grogu."
For two seasons, Carano had portrayed the character of Cara Dune, a former Ranger of the Rebel Alliance, who had turned mercenary, but was persuaded by The Mandalorian, also known as Din Djarin, to turn legitimate once more. The series is styled as a space Western in the famous "galaxy far, far away."
Carano's character proved highly popular and marked a new high point in her acting career, who had previously been widely known as an accomplished mixed martial arts fighter.
Disney recognized the popularity of the Cara Dune character, offering Carano a starring role in a planned "Mandalorian" spinoff series, "Rangers of the New Republic." According to her lawsuit, Carano expected to be paid at least $150,000 per episode for the next six years, which would have been in line with Disney's reported pay structure for other regulars performing on series for Disney's streaming platform.
Since each series typically produces 8-10 episodes per season, Carano estimated the contract could have been worth more than $7 million.
Further, Carano claims she was told that she would be featured in new "Star Wars" feature films based around the storyline anchored on "The Mandalorian."
However, in 2020 and 2021, amid tumultuous societal unrest and riots under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement, Carano publicly expressed statements on social media and elsewhere in opposition to the support Disney had expressed for the left-wing uprising.
Further, Carano refused to join her name to the long list of Hollywood celebrities expressing support for LGBTQ causes, notably including the favor showered by Hollywood and American corporations on the transgender rights movement.
Carano then became the target for blowback online, where she was repeatedly called a "racist" and a "transphobic bitch" for not including pronouns in her social media biography.
At one point, Carano revised her bio to include, in place of pronouns, the phrase "boop/bop/beep," in reference to sounds that a droid may make when speaking on Star Wars. That decision drew more outrage from people who accused her of mocking the trans movement. Carano denied that was her intention, but was intended to expose "the bullying mentality of the mob that has taken over the voices of many genuine causes."
Carano was also attacked online for questioning the decisions of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden and other Democratic governors and officials to continue lockdown-style orders and restrictions in the name of fighting Covid-19, and particularly restrictions on churches and other religious gatherings.
According to the complaint, throughout the online abuse, Carano persistently spoke out against bullying, such as that she said she was experiencing.
Throughout the online assault, Disney did not defend Carano's right to speak. Rather, Carano says the company forced her to participate in long meetings and calls, at times with trans activists, "demanding an explanation and criticizing her for not embracing what some see as mandatory solidarity with a vocal element of the transgender activist community."
However, following the 2020 presidential election, when Carano posted an online message appearing to question the validity of Biden's victory over Donald Trump, the actor came under renewed online assault and a hashtag campaign demanding Disney fire Carano.
Within weeks, Disney and Lucasfilm announced they were terminating Carano, claiming she was “denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities." Carano asserts that claim is false, saying "she was doing just the opposite, opposing such denigration and targeting of people just because they hold different beliefs."
Carano further claims Disney's and Lucasfilm's actions have resulted in her being blacklisted in Hollywood.
Carano is seeking a judgment declaring Disney violated California law by terminating her; requiring Disney to return her to her former role within the Star Wars universe; and requiring Disney and Lucasfilm to pay her unspecified damages, potentially worth many millions, for her lost income and career opportunities, as well as for emotional distress, and punitive damages to punish Disney for its alleged misconduct.
In response, Disney and its co-defendants argued the case should be dismissed, because the lawsuit represents a threat to their First Amendment rights to contol the messages attached, both explicitly and implicitly, to the content they produce and air.
The company argued it should be free to fire anyone involved in the creation of "expressive content," like television programs and movies, if they make statements that would otherwise be protected by free speech guarantees under California law, but somehow transgress the company's "values."
Judge Garnett, however, said that argument would crash and burn in this case.
She noted that Carano's lawsuit doesn't involve a public "forum," but rather a "scripted television show" in which Carano's personal views don't impact any message the show's creators may wish to convey.
"To prevail on their defense that their expressive association rights bar Plaintiff’s claims, Defendants must show that any impact on their claimed associational freedoms cannot justify California’s interests in eradicating sex-based discrimination and employer pressure on employee political activity," Garnett wrote.
"At this stage, Defendants have not made such a showing."
In a footnote, the judge said Disney's reasoning is also dangerous. Allowing that argument to triumph could result in companies like Disney further seeking to control the political views and activity of any number of its employees, whether on screen or off.
"If, as Defendants urge, courts must defer to employers’ accounts of what does and does not impair their expression, there is no reason why an engineer, accountant, secretary, or janitor employed by Defendants - who, by virtue of their employment with Defendants, are at least peripherally engaged in creating speech - might not be subject to a similar argument," the judge said.
While the ruling will allow Carano's lawsuit to proceed, the judge cautioned that Disney's First Amendment claims could still prevent her from ordering the company to reinstate Carano to the role of Cara Dune in "The Mandalorian."
But she said that is "distinct" from whether Carano has properly set Disney and Lucasfilm within her sights under California's antidiscrimination law.
Carano has been represented in the action by attorneys Gene C. Schaerr, Donald M. Falk, Eugene Volokh and Edward H. Trent, of the firm of Schaerr Jaffe LLP, of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Disney, Lucasfilm and Huckleberry Industries are represented by attorneys Daniel M. Petrocelli, Molly M. Lens, Kristin MacDonnell, Jonathan D. Hacker and Joshua Revesz, of the firm of O'Melveny & Myers, of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.