‘Mandalorian’ Actor Gina Carano Invited Disney/Lucasfilm LGBTQ Advocates to a Restaurant Dinner — They Refused
The saga of Gina Carano and the Star Wars series The Mandalorian continues to unfold. After the Season 2 finale and a series of social media posts from Carano, Disney and Lucasfilm issued a statement that they no longer employed her. Carano details ways in which she tried to make things right with the company, but those efforts perhaps created further problems.
Carano spoke with Ben Shapiro, who will produce a future movie starring her, on The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special on Feb. 21. She explained her offer to take Disney and The Mandalorian staff to dinner during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Taking ‘The Mandalorian’ staff to dinner exacerbated previous Gina Carano tweets
Before the season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian, Carano changed her Twitter bio to include the pronouns (beep/bop/boop). When people criticized her for mocking gender pronouns, Carano said she had a meeting with Disney.
“They wanted me to get on the phone with 40 of their LGBTQ community, not on the phone, on Zoom,” Carano said. “I felt all your employees are slandering the hell out of me right now. You think I want to get on a video where they can then film it? I felt very insecure about that. I offered them, restaurants at the time had started opening back up. Let me take four or five of them out to dinner. Person to person, you can look me in my eyes, I can look you in your eyes and let’s have a genuine conversation.”
Carano also sparked controversy for tweets questioning mask wearing during the pandemic. She did not indicate that Disney turned down her invitation for safety reasons, but the dinner did not appear to happen.
Gina Carano felt outnumbered by ‘The Mandalorian’
Carano added that she felt people from The Mandalorian were attacking her online.
I think it’s also a bit abusive you want me to talk to 40 people that have been slandering [me]. Maybe not all of them had been slandering me but a lot of them probably had. It was just like I don’t feel like I really deserve this. Don’t you guys see what’s happening online? It’s all these bots, it’s not even faces, it’s not even real people. I don’t know who these people are, children or just bots. They’re awful. I actually asked the LGBTQ community leaders for the trans section, why don’t you guys address that? It might be healthier if you address what’s happening, the aggressive push. They didn’t really have an answer to that.
Gina Carano, The Ben Shaprio Show Sunday Special, 2/21/21
Carano said the Zoom with Disney came after another Zoom with her own publicists, who connected her with LGBTQ activists.
Right after that tweet, I clarified for everybody this was not directed towards the transgender community in any way. I’ve also been watching celebrities apologize left and right but it’s very ingenuine. I said, ‘Can you just give me a moment because I’m kind of feeling emotional right now, and can I just do my own research.’ They were like, ‘Okay, do your research but you need to get on the phone tomorrow with our LGBTQ Transgender section.’ I was like, ‘Honestly, I’m feeling very emotional. Can you give me a second?’ They said, ‘No, you need to do this now.’ So I did.”
Gina Carano, The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special, 2/21/21
Gina Carano says Disney was tracking the social media campaign
The #FireGinaCarano hashtag trended over not only her trans tweets, but also comments about the pandemic and election. It was ultimately an Instagram post about the Holocaust, since deleted, that Disney and Lucasfilm called “abhorrent.” Carano said she was privy to company e-mails that were stacked against her.
“Somebody from the company accidentally sent me a conversation,” Carano said. “They were tracking the fire Gina Carano hashtag on contact that had nothing to do with me. They accidentally sent me an e-mail which was very enlightening so I knew. I know there were some people that went to bat for me but I know they didn’t really win out in the end.”
What do you think? Should Carano have insisted on a public dinner? Should Mandalorian staff members have attended?
Source: The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special, Ep. 111 (approximately 6:00 in)
