RSS
Disney Says Fired ‘Mandalorian’ Actress ‘Grotesquely Trivialized the Holocaust,’ Calls for Lawsuit Dismissal
Actress Gina Carano arrives at the World Premiere Of Disney’s ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ held at the El Capitan Theatre on December 16, 2019 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Photo: Image Press Agency via Reuters Connect
The Walt Disney Company filed a motion on Tuesday night to dismiss a wrongful discharge and sex discrimination lawsuit filed by actress Gina Carano, who was fired from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian for comparing the political divides in America to Nazi Germany.
Disney wants Carano’s lawsuit dismissed “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 Bob Iger-led company said the actress and former mixed martial arts fighter was fired from the Star Wars-based series in 2021 because she chose “to publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people — notably, not ‘thousands’ — [which] was the final straw for Disney.”
“The First Amendment protects Disney’s right to protect its own speech from association with Carano’s high-profile, controversial speech,” added the company in its motion this week. “Because the state cannot impose liability on Disney for making that decision, Carano’s claims should be dismissed.”
Disney is asking for a hearing on June 12 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles before Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett. Disney is a defendant in the case alongside Lucasfilms and Huckleberry Industries. The entertainment giant purchased Star Wars creator George Lucas’ Lucasfilm in 2012 for just over $4 billion.
Carano starred as bounty hunter Cara Dune in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. In February 2021, not long after the second season of The Mandalorian finished airing on Disney+, Carano shared on social media a TikTok post that said: “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors … even by children. 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?”
Shortly afterward, Lucasfilm, which co-produces The Mandalorian, announced Carano’s firing from the show. It said her social media posts “denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” A month later, Disney’s CEO at the time, Bob Chapel, explained that Carano’s views “didn’t align with company values,” including its “values of respect, values of decency, values of integrity, and values of inclusion.”
Carano filed a lawsuit in Feb. 2024, claiming she was wrongfully fired and that her “words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist.” Her lawsuit is receiving financial support from X/Twitter and Tesla owner Musk, who offered to pay legal fees for anyone who faces alleged discrimination because of their social media activity on his social media platform.
Disney said in its motion on Tuesday that it “had enough” after seeing Carano’s social media post about Nazi Germany. The company said the actress “grotesquely trivialized the Holocaust as comparable to sharp political disagreements.”
Carano responded to Disney’s motion on Thursday.
“Disney has confirmed what has been known all along, they will fire you if you say anything they disagree with, even if they have to MISREPRESENT, MALIGN, and MISCHARACTERIZE you to do it,” she wrote in a post on X. “They are now on record letting everyone who works for them know that Disney will take any chance they get to control what you say, what you think or they will attempt to destroy your career. The First Amendment does not allow Disney to wantonly DISCRIMINATE, which is what they have done in my case and frankly have now admitted they did.”
The post Disney Says Fired ‘Mandalorian’ Actress ‘Grotesquely Trivialized the Holocaust,’ Calls for Lawsuit Dismissal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
RSS
Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
RSS
Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”