The CEO of the Disney corporation has finally spoken about the decision to fire Gina Carano from the hit Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked about whether the company had "blacklisted" Carano by a caller during the Q&A portion of a recent shareholder's meeting.
Take a look at this trailer for season two of The Mandalorian in the video below:In response, Chapek stated that Disney was neither "left-leaning or right-leaning" as an organization.
Chapek continued: "[Disney stands] for values that are universal. Values of respect, values of decency, values of integrity, and values of inclusion.
"And we seek to have the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live in. And I think that’s a world we should all live in harmony and peace."
The 38-year-old actress was axed from the role of bounty hunter Cara Dune on the popular Star Wars spin-off TV series after repeatedly making controversial political statements during the 2020 US Presidential Election.
This culminated in Carano sharing a post on her Instagram Stories which compared the treatment of Republicans in the US to the persecution of Jews and other minorities by the Nazi party.
In the Instagram post in question, Carano wrote: "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?"
As a result of these controversial statements, a spokesperson for Lucasfilm confirmed in a statement that Carano would no longer be employed by the company as of February 10, and there are no plans to employ her in the future.
Per Deadline, a Lucasfilm spokesperson stated later: "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."
