In the past year since its airing, the “Star Wars” spinoff television series, “The Mandalorian,” has gained significant traction. In the series, 38-year-old former MMA fighter Gina Carano plays ex-soldier Cara Dune. She quickly became a fan favorite and secured a prominent role in the hit series. Any knowledgeable viewer can recall that season two concluded with a cliffhanger that pointed at an offshoot series for Carano’s character. However, recent controversial remarks by Carano have resulted in her termination from the project.

Carano reposted a hateful rant on her Instagram story on Tuesday, Feb. 9, resulting in the trending hashtag #fireGinaCarano the next day. The post in question was an upsetting comparison between being a conservative in today’s society and being Jewish in 1940s Germany. 

The post, originally from TikTok, said, “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors … Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is this any different than hating someone for their political views?”

Carano’s post is not only a detriment to society, but it also reinforces conservatives’ problematic views. Once a star of Carano’s caliber is willing to promote a highly disturbing and baseless claim such as “history is edited,” then fans might intensify their support for those same ideas. As proven by Donald Trump’s constant wielding of Twitter to spark controversy, social media can have an extremely powerful influence on people. Conservative voters, in particular, have often seemed to fall victim to these tactics, believing the conspiracies and disproven claims on celebrities’ and political candidates’ accounts.

Following the public’s indignation on Wednesday, Lucasfilm, the owner of the “Star Wars” franchise, released a statement that Carano was no longer employed by them and that there were “no plans for her to be in the future.”

The Hollywood Reporter released the entire Lucasfilm spokesperson’s statement, saying, “her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” 

The United Talent Agency (UTA) quickly followed suit, dropping Carano as a client on Wednesday, according to Variety.  

This disgraceful comparison was not Carano’s only questionable post, though. Several of her tweets and previous activity have been brought to attention in light of her recent termination. 

Carano is a known member of the Republican and conspiracy theory community on social media, evidenced from her post, including “Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself” and changing her pronouns on Twitter in September to “beep/bop/boop.” These actions are reminiscent of typical conservative conspirator behavior.

Although there was a short burst of outrage, with #fireGinaCarano trending following her mockery of a pronoun change, repercussions from her employers were just. However, she attempted to retract her statement, saying, “I’m not against trans lives at all … [my intention was] exposing the bullying mentality of the mob that has taken over the voices of many genuine causes.”

Carano’s comment that she was not openly mocking trans lives and pronouns is a disingenuous and selfish attempt at saving face. She has since made comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, mask-wearing amidst the coronavirus pandemic and voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

Focusing on her unacceptable post about Jewish people in Nazi Germany and conservatives in America today, there is no other way to interpret it. Carano is anti-Semitic, and her post is an unacceptable analogy of genocide to living in a free country. 

Her actions reflect poorly on previous employers’ tolerance of her offensive rhetoric. Lucasfilm and UTA should have fired her months ago. It took a post that was explicitly anti-Semitic to warrant a response from the companies. If individuals are not held accountable for ignorant and hurtful behavior, then we are destined to lose any sense of humanity or respect we have for one other. Therefore, even A-list celebrities must be held to the same set of moral standards. Vicious attacks on social media platforms should no longer be permitted because they perpetuate an us vs. them mentality between Democrats and Republicans, which manifests in conflict within the country. Standing up for what you believe in is no longer acceptable when it is racist, anti-Semitic or fostering violence.

After her termination from Lucasfilm and UTA, Carano has landed a job working for notorious Republican Ben Shapiro’s new film company, the Daily Wire, which makes movies “for conservatives, by conservatives.” 

What can be learned from Gina Carano? Perhaps that some employers will tolerate hate speech, so there’s no point in holding back. I hope for the sake of the country that this is not the conclusion many will draw from her example. Instead, the focus should be on the larger problem of propagating spiteful comments on social media and coming to realize that they truly affect the people they target. We must turn our attention to mending the culture that allows for this type of speech to occur in the first place.

Haley Daniels, FCRH ’23, is a psychology and English major from Hershey, Penn.