Former MMA star Gina Carano fired from ‘Mandalorian,’ talent agency

Former Strikeforce women’s MMA star Gina Carano will no longer play Cara Dune on the popular Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian following a controversial Instagram post.

The 38-year-old fighter turned actress was fired from both Lucasfilm and talent agency UTA following a now-deleted Wednesday Instagram post where she equated being a conservative in the current political climate to being a Jewish person during the Holocaust:

“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?”

It’s not the first time Carano has drawn ire for her viewpoints as November posts on social media supporting unproven U.S. voter fraud and not wearing masks during the pandemic caused issues. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio had been looking for a way out of the Carano business since those posts, abandoning a plan in December to announce her character as lead in an upcoming Star Wars series.

In a statement, Lucasfilm 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.”

After Carano’s fighting career was done in August 2009 following a one-sided loss to Cris “Cyborg” Justino, she moved into acting with roles in Haywire, Fast & The Furious 6, Deadpool, and others. There was talk of her returning to fight Ronda Rousey at one point in 2014-2015 but an errant text from UFC president Dana White calling her a “bitch” and then doubling down on that statement ended those negotiations.