If you were expecting an apology from Gina Carano over her latest controversy, think again.
Carano, who was fired from her starring role in “The Mandalorian,” has signed on for a producing and starring role in a new movie project backed by conservative website The Daily Wire.
In a statement obtained by Deadline, Carano expressed elation for the opportunity – but also defiance against anyone responsible for reigniting the #FireGinaCarano hashtag that led to her dismissal by Lucasfilm Ltd.
“The Daily Wire is helping make one of my dreams – to develop and produce my own film – come true,” Carano said. “I cried out and my prayer was answered. I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”
Earlier this week, Carano’s since-deleted post fueled the #FireGinaCarano hashtag, which trended worldwide on Twitter. Carano shared a social media post in which she suggested Republicans living in President Joe Biden’s America are being persecuted the same as Holocaust victims in Nazi Germany.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children,” Carano wrote on her IG story, accompanied by a sad face emoji.
Carano also offered up the following words in quotation marks:
“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?”
That created a firestorm on social media and eventually led to Carano’s firing from “The Mandalorian,” in which she starred as Cara Dune for the first two seasons of the popular “Star Wars” franchise on Disney+.
Carano is no stranger to controversy on social media. The hashtag #FireGinaCarano trended last November after she openly questioned the presidential election that Biden won against Donald Trump and the validity of the COVID-19 pandemic by sharing a series of anti-mask posts.
Carano has been known to spread the message of far-right conspiracy group QAnon. She’s also faced backlash for mocking gender pronoun preferences.
Carano, a pioneer of women’s MMA, made history on in 2007 when she and Julie Kedzie competed in the first women’s MMA fight to air on live national television at “EliteXC: Destiny.” Carano made history again a little more than two years later when she and Cris Cyborg became the first women to headline a major MMA promotion’s event under the Strikeforce banner.
That fight, a first-round TKO loss on Aug. 15, 2009, was Carano’s last. She transitioned into a full-time acting career afterward.
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro had this to say in a statement to Deadline:
“We could not be more excited to be working with Gina Carano, an incredible talent dumped by Disney and Lucasfilm for offending the authoritarian Hollywood Left,” it read. “This is what Daily Wire exists to do: provide an alternative not just for consumers, but for creators who refuse to bow to the mob.
“We’re eager to bring Gina’s talent to Americans who love her, and we’re just as eager to show Hollywood that if they want to keep canceling those who think differently, they’ll just be helping us build the Xwing to take down their Death Star.”
Gina Carano to produce, star in right-wing website film: ‘They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them’