Former The Mandalorian star Gina Carano has opened up her about her firing from the Star Wars Disney+ series, as well as her relationship with its star, Pedro Pascal.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Carano — who is currently suing Disney for her firing — reflected on her firing, which she said she learned about online like most fans. Following the news, Carano said that she was emotional and shocked Disney had called her out specifically.
“I just laid down and cried and cried,” Carano said. “I curled into a fetal position. It’s not that I didn’t think that something like that could happen. It was that I couldn’t imagine they would put out this horrendous statement about me after working with me — the most powerful entertainment company in the world saying that about me.”
Carano was let go from the series shortly after the actress shared a photo to her Instagram Stories and Fleets (Twitter’s former version of Stories). The photo showed a Jewish woman being chased by a boy with a bat during the Holocaust, with a caption reading “How is this any different from hating someone for their political views?” Almost immediately, backlash came for Carano from fans.
Carano praises star Pedro Pascal, says the two were close
Carano went on to describe the various media training and efforts Disney asked her to go through following an instance where, after putting “beep/bop/beep” in her Twitter profile as pronouns, she received more backlash. The actress and former MMA fighter recalled how Pedro Pascal — who has a trans sister — tried to talk to her about the trans movement.
“He was telling me, ‘Just put #transrights in your feed. Do it and they’ll leave you alone,'” Carano said. She did not, however, “because that’s not my style, to put hashtag anything. I’m also not going to put #TrumpsRights.”
Carano said the two had another conversation, and called their relationship “close,” noting that Pascal reached out following the recent passing of actor Carl Weathers.
“Me and Pedro were so close,” said Carano. “He knows 1,000 percent I’m not homophobic or transphobic. He texted me after Carl Weathers passed away. We had our conversation and it was beautiful. One thing he did say was, ‘Thank you. You and Carl Weathers have always been protectors.’ And he knows what that means, and I know what that means, and I wish I could tell why. We basically left it at ‘I can’t wait to give you a big hug.’ ”
