Texas Sen. Ted Cruz recently defended former “The Mandalorian” star Gina Carano after she was reportedly let go from Lucasfilm.
What’s going on?
Cruz — who is currently hearing arguments in the President Trump impeachment trial — tweeted his support for Carano after her exit from Lucasfilm earlier this week. The tweet also criticized Disney.
- “Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked (butt) & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney canceled her.”
Many of the responses to Cruz tweet included images and photos of other “Star Wars” women, like Princess Leia, Jyn Erso and Rey. “Star Wars” fans suggested other heroes had defied stereotypes in their portrayals of female characters.
Context
Lucasfilm said Wednesday that Carano had been dropped from the “Star Wars” show, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
- Lucasfilm reportedly said: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Her exit from Lucasfilm came after she shared an Instagram photo post on her Instagram story that commented on Jewish people being attacked in the streets during the Nazi Germany era.
- She said the Nazis’ attack on Jews is similar to how people are treated today due to their political beliefs, as I wrote for the Deseret News.