STAR WARS actress Gina Carano has been dropped from the upcoming season of The Mandalorian.
Disney has severed ties with the American actress after a series of controversial comments from Carano caused massive public backlash, and Lucasfilm has confirmed she is no longer employed by them.
But why was Gina Carano dropped, what did she say and what have Disney and Lucasfilm said?
Who is Gina Carano?
Gina Carano is an American actress, model and fomer mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.
She has appeared in multiple popular films and TV shows, including Deadpool and the Fast & Furious 6.
But she is best known for her role as Cara Dune in the Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian.
Gina Carano attends the premiere of Disney+'s 'The Mandalorian' at El Capitan Theatre on November 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)Why was Gina Carano dropped from The Mandalorian?
Gina Carono has been dropped from The Mandalorian due to a number of controversial comments she made or 'liked' on social media.
Carano had appeared to mock transgender people for listing her pronouns on her Twitter bio as 'beep/bop/boop', which she removed after speaking with her co-star Pedro Pascal.
Carano also shared conspiracy theories which claimed widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US Election and had also seemingly downplayed the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic with anti-mask memes on social media.
The apparent final straw, however, came earlier this week when she shared a post on Instagram which equated intolerance of political beliefs-- eg being criticised for being a Republican voter-- with the Holocaust.
What did Gina Carano's Instagram post say?
The actress shared a message, written by somebody else, which included a photograph of the Holocaust in Nazy Germany.
The writer of the pot said "Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbours... even by children.
"Because history is edited, most people today don'mt realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers cold easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbours hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political beliefs?"
The post, which has been described as anti-Semitic, has been deleted, but screenshots remain on social media.
What has Disney's Lucasfilm said about Gina Carano?
Disney and Lucasfilm have released a statement condemning Carano's "abhorrent and unacceptable" social media posts and confirmed she is no longer a part of The Mandalorian and will not return in the future.
The full statement, sent to io9, 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."
