OPINION
Lucasfilm's successful streaming Star Wars show The Mandalorian has been in the news this week for reasons outside of its massive popularity. The show's sometimes co-star Gina Carano has had a history of posting her political views on social media. For example:
It's important to note that for a long time she had plenty of strange views she shared... and was not fired. This week finally crossed enough of a line for Disney/Lucasfilm to give her the ax.
Hey, it's Star Wars, it's political takes, and it's the internet. So things got hot in a hurry.
Cries from all corners about if it's fair, or right, or censorship, or comparable to HUAC and blacklisting are in abundance.
But they're all as confused and misguided, as Carano's original posts which aren't even as offensive as they are... laced with nonsense.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Lucasfilm firing Carano for this. And even more importantly... this doesn't mean Disney/Lucasfilm has a liberal agenda. Because guess what?
They don't. Neither does Hollywood.
Here is what Lucasfilm cares about: selling Star Wars.
You know what makes it hard to sell a product?
When someone on the sales team is talking about Nazis killing Jewish people with the customers.
Imagine you manage or run a clothing store, and one of your sales reps keeps bringing up Nazis killing Jewish people to random customers trying to buy pants. If you ran the store, you'd say to the sales rep, "Hey... that makes people uncomfortable. Can you stop?" And if they didn't... you'd have to ask them to leave.
Because Carano isn't being silenced, folks. She can keep talking about how she's "just like a Jew being beaten to death in the streets" if she wants... she can even do it on public platforms. But she can't continue to sell Star Wars and do it because that hurts the business.
Don't conservatives love businesses? And their rights to run their business however they want?
This isn't like HUAC, when the government started questioning artists about their beliefs. This is just a business trying to sell its product. Carano is simply not doing a good job.
And yes, for a famous person on a major show, the social media presence they maintain is a huge part of their job. That's a reality now. It's still a free platform where they can say everything they want.
But not without consequences to their job!
That's why the idea of cancel culture is silly. It's not cancel culture. It's consequence culture. If you say something that pisses people off, there may be consequences. If you can't handle that, then be careful what you say.
But guess what?!
Carano ain't done yet. She's already in league with Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire for some new project. Yes, the Ben Shapiro of epic self-own fame:
Yeah, this project is gonna be GREEEEEAAAAT.
The trouble Carano is causing for her employer is not worth what she brings to the table. It's not just my opinion, it's something Steven Soderbergh had to deal with when he dubbed all her lines in Haywire.
Because you know who can still get jobs and did for a long time after many far more offensive rants? Mel Gibson. Money doesn't care. What Carano brings to the table isn't worth the trouble. That's the bottom line.
At the end of the day, even though people want to turn this into a matter of political agenda and freedom of speech, it is 1,000% neither of those things.
It's very simple and boring. Carano is bad at and for business. Lucasfilm has no time for that.
Star Wars is a cash cow that costs Disney billions. They have no ability to suffer a fool who doesn't understand that using a public platform to talk about your weird confused political agenda is foolishness. The other important fact is that nobody ever got fired for simply being conservative.
For example, nobody got fired from Star Wars for talking about states' rights. Or advocating low tax laws. Or supporting deregulation and free trade.
Counterpoint: if she vocally supported progressive causes, would she still be employed?
Of course. Because a lot of them aren't bad for business. Did you watch the Superbowl this year? Did you see the ads?
Obviously certain liberal perspectives are selling right now.
The long and short of it is: don't be stupid. Look around you and read the room. If you want to earn your living in mainstream media, you have to.
Carano's next step will be earning her living in niche conservative media with Shapiro and The Daily Wire. See? She can still get a job! She's not being blacklisted.
She's just making a really bad business decision. Because Disney is categorically bigger than The Daily Wire. Last time I checked.
But she's been making a lot of bad business decisions. And that's okay! She's allowed! Her passion is to compare herself to Jewish victims who were murdered by Nazis! Follow your bliss, Gina.
