On November 20, Chapter 12 of the hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian, “The Siege” was released on Disney+. Although many fans were excited to see the next chapter of the titular character and Baby Yoda’s adventures, many of those same fans were also dreading the return of a particular character: Cara Dune, played by actress and former MMA fighter Gina Carano. In the months leading up to the Season 2 premiere, Star Wars fans, especially those who are members and allies of the LGBT community, felt isolated and attacked by Carano’s remarks on social media. This ultimately culminated in the hashtag #FireGinaCarano, which went trending on Twitter last week. 

In September, fans asked Carano on Twitter to add her pronouns to her bio, which has been a practice adopted by those who are in and are allies of the transgender and gender non-conforming communities. Carano’s co-star, Pedro Pascal (who plays the Mandalorian himself, Din Djarin) has done this, and is an outspoken supporter of the trans community. Despite that, Carano refused to do so and liked tweets that mocked the practice. Not long after this, she updated her Twitter bio with the words, “beep/bop/boop”. Carano wrote, “They’re mad cuz I won’t put pronouns in my bio to show my support for trans lives. After months of harassing me in every way. I decided to put 3 VERY controversial words in my bio. beep/bop/boop. I’m not against trans lives at all. They need to find less abusive representation.” Many fans took this as mockery of the trans community. This was also seen as especially insulting to Pedro Pascal, as his younger sibling is non-binary. In response, hosts from the Star Wars fan podcasts The Living Force and Star Wars Friends launched a GoFundMe campaign entitled Trans Rights are Human Rights: This is the Way. The campaign has raised over $16,000 for the Transgender Law Center, the largest transgender-led civil rights group in the country.

This was not the first time Carano had gotten in hot water for her Twitter behavior, and it certainly wasn’t the last. Earlier in the year, she had liked several posts mocking and opposing the Black Lives Matter movement. Recently, she tweeted memes ridiculing those who wore masks during the ongoing pandemic, as well as spreading false information about election fraud. This would all lead to the reason why #FireGinaCarano went trending on Twitter. On November 14, Carano announced that she had joined the alternative social media site Parler. “You can join me over @parler_app,” she tweeted, “I go by GinaJoyCarano. Joy is my middle name.” Parler is a social media site that promotes free speech, and is heavily used by Trump supporters. Notable users include Gavin McIness (the founder of the Proud Boys), Sean Hannity, far-right activist Lara Loomer, Senator Ted Cruz, and Trump family members. False information about the COVID-19 pandemic, election fraud, and the QAnon conspiracy run rampant on the site, due to the little moderation it has. This was seen as the tipping point for fans, and thus the hashtag #FireGinaCarano went trending.

While many fans were disgusted by Gina’s behavior, an equal number of fans were disturbed at the effort to “cancel” her. Regardless, this negative press that The Mandalorian star has received is likely something that Disney and Lucasfilm are not happy about. It remains to be seen whether or not Carano will remain as Cara Dune on The

Mandalorian. Jay Justice, a cosplayer who fell in love with the character when the series debuted last year, had this to say regarding fans who love Cara Dune but are disappointed by Carano’s actions. “I want everyone who loves Cara Dune to feel welcome as I did when she first came out,” she said, “I don’t think it’s fair for us to not be able enjoy something because one or two people decided that they were going to be disrespectful to the fans that made them who they are.”