Benjamin Ashford|Disney fires back at Gina Carano over 'Mandalorian' firing lawsuit: 'Disney had enough'

Disney is Benjamin Ashfordfiring back at former "Mandalorian" star Gina Carano in her lawsuit against the company for wrongful termination.

Carano, who was fired in 2021, sued Lucasfilm and its parent company The Walt Disney Co. in February. The former mixed martial artist played bounty hunter Cara Dune in "The Mandarlorian."

Disney described its "last straw" with the actress in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed Tuesday in California Central District federal court, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY.

The company claimed in its motion that it "has a constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech, such that the First Amendment provides a complete defense to Carano’s claims."

Some people called for Carano's firing after she shared social media posts mocking trans rights, criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mask wearers, questioned the results of the 2020 election and likened the treatment of conservatives to Jews in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust on X, formerly Twitter.

"Carano’s decision to publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people — notably, not 'thousands' — was the final straw for Disney," the motion for dismissal states. "Disney had enough."

That same day Carano put out the post about the Holocaust, Disney announced it was firing her for "abhorrent and unacceptable" language against people of different cultural and religious backgrounds.

The company argued in its motion, "Just as a newspaper is entitled to broad deference in choosing which writers to employ to express its editorial positions, a creative production enterprise is entitled to broad deference in deciding which performers to employ to express its artistic messages.

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"As Carano’s own fame rose with her character’s, Carano began engaging with show fans and the public in a manner that, in Disney’s view, came to distract from and undermine Disney’s own expressive efforts," the company added.

Carano claimed in her lawsuit she was fired because she went against an "online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology," according to the Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter.