Phil Williams Commentary: Gina Carano and the revenge of the sacrificial lamb

Something happened in the legal world recently that could have serious ramifications for the cult of woke-ism. A sacrificial lamb who had been offered up to appease the gods (with a little “g”) of woke-ness just launched her revenge.

Over the past several years we have watched as Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), Critical Race Theory (CRT), and shills for Black Lives Matter (BLM), became cause célèbres with no bearing in reality. Those who were not fully in line with the narrative were offered up as sacrifices to the gods of woke-ness. Most notable of those sacrificial lambs is former Mixed Martial Arts fighter and actress Gina Carano.

Carano came on the public scene as a Muay Thai fighter and quickly caught the attention of the growing mixed martial arts (MMA) fight scene. She launched into women’s MMA by winning her first fight in 38 seconds and soon after got the attention of Hollywood. In 2008, she was the Female Fighter of the Year at the MMA Awards.

Isn’t this what liberals want? Women who can project strength and charismatic presence all at the same time?

Carano began her acting career starring in action flicks like “Fast and Furious 6”, and other work on the small screen. In 2018 she was cast in her biggest role of all alongside actors Pedro Pascal and the late Carl Weathers. Lucasfilm, producer of the "Star Wars" series, announced the creation of the first "Star Wars" based television series with a high-quality production called "The Mandalorian."

It was an instant hit with characters like Baby Yoda becoming all the rage. In the mix was Gina Carano playing the good-guy-bad-girl character of Cara Dune, a former Rebel shock trooper turned mercenary.

For two hit seasons Carano was a fan favorite. Her career was off and running. But horror-of-horrors, it turned out that Carano just wasn’t into woke virtue signaling and actually had a mind of her own.

In late 2020, Carano drew the ire of liberals on Twitter (now “X”), who criticized her for not jumping on the BLM movement, leading to accusations of racism. Not long after so-called fans demanded she put her gender pronouns in her Twitter profile, so she added the words "beep/bop/boop", which was called evidence of transphobia. She also didn’t get the need for mass masking during COVID and dared to question election results.

The final straw came in February 2021, when Carano’s Instagram had a post that decried the idea of hating someone else for their political views and likening that to the efforts by Nazi’s to build hatred of Jews.

The gods of woke-ness were incensed. The sacrifice had to be made.

In early 2021 Lucasfilm, and its parent company Disney, announced that Carano was no longer employed. Her "Mandalorian" character Cara Dune ceased to exist. But they didn’t stop there. Lucasfilm let it be known that Carano’s views were the grounds for their corporate decision-making, saying, “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm & there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural & religious identities are abhorrent & unacceptable.”

In essence they announced to all of Hollywood that Carano was not someone that should be hired. She was blackballed for having a conservative viewpoint.

Carano stated, “The truth is I was being hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time. My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist. It was a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me.”

I don’t know all of Carano’s views on life, religion or politics. But from this vantage, it is clear she was sacrificed on the altar of woke-ness. But before she was an actress Carano was a fighter, and this lamb just started her revenge tour.

In 2023, Elon Musk announced that if someone felt that they had ever been punished for posting their world views on Twitter (now “X”) he would be willing to pay for legal representation. Musk was willing to defend anyone who stood in the electronic public square and dared to say something that libs don’t like. Carano tweeted “I think I qualify.”

Carano didn’t have the ability to go up against the industry giants. But then she got a call from lawyers hired by Musk. They were willing to take her case. Suit has now been filed.

Discussing the litigation Carano wrote, “It has been difficult to move forward with the lies & labels stuck on me, backed & encouraged by the most powerful entertainment company in the world. I am grateful someone has come to my defense in such a powerful way & look forward to clearing my name.”

I hope that Disney learns a lesson. I hope Carano’s lawsuit and others that are coming send a shockwave through Hollywood. It is fair game not to fire an actress because they’re not any good at acting, have a criminal record, a substance abuse problem, or any other myriad of for-cause reasons. But not because they have an opinion.

Maybe, just maybe, if Disney had handled this more discreetly and merely said that they wouldn’t be renewing her contract they wouldn’t be spinning up their lawyers right now. But no, Disney needed to offer up a sacrifice. Disney humiliated Carano so the cult of progressivism would see how on fire they were for the liberal agenda.

But this was no ordinary sacrificial lamb. Gina Carano was a fighter first. Every one with a conservative worldview should be rooting for her in this fight.

Ring the bell … let’s do this thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, the main event! Revenge of the sacrificial lamb.

Phil Williams is a former state senator from District 10 (which includes Etowah County), retired Army colonel and combat veteran, and a practicing attorney. He previously served with the leadership of the Alabama Policy Institute in Birmingham. He currently hosts the conservative news/talk show Rightside Radio on multiple channels throughout north Alabama. The opinions expressed are his own.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Phil Williams on Disney and Star Wars' sacrificial lamb fighting back