Disney CEO Bob Chapek said he doesn’t think Gina Carano — former star of “The Mandalorian” — was fired from Lucasfilm because of her political beliefs, Deadline reports.
He said doesn’t “really see Disney as characterizing itself as left-leaning or right-leaning” organization when it comes to its politics, Deadline reports.
What happened
A shareholder asked Chapek about Carano’s firing during the Q&A portion of Disney’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, according to Deadline.
- “What about the Disney black list?” the shareholder asked, a reference to whether or not Disney was blacklisting Carano (blacklisting means soiling a person’s name so they don’t get hired elsewhere).
- Chapek didn’t mention Carano specifically. However, he said Disney stands “for values that are universal: respect, decency, integrity and inclusion and we seek to have the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live in. And I think that’s a world we should all live in harmony and peace.”
Context
Lucasfilm recently cut ties with Carano after constant criticism from social media due to her social media post that compared those who suffer attacks because of their political beliefs to Jewish people during Nazi Germany, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
- Other social media posts that received heavy criticism focused on the COVID-19 vaccine, Democrats, face masks and voter fraud, among other political issues, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
Bigger picture
Carano has called out Disney and Lucasfilm for hypocrisy in the past, Fox News reports. She said on “The Ben Shapiro Show” that other people engaged in similar behavior as she did, but they were not fired for their statement.
- She said Disney has “been all over me and they’ve been watching me like a hawk.”
- But, according to Fox News, Carano said she had been “watching people on the same production and they can say everything they want, and that’s where I had a problem. I had a problem because I wasn’t going along with the narrative.”
- “I was prepared at any point to be let go because I’ve seen this happen to so many people. I’ve seen the looks on their faces. I’ve seen the bullying that takes place, and so when this started, they point their guns at you, and you know it’s only a matter of time.”