The opinions/views expressed in the following are held by the individual author and do not reflect the opinions/views of the Greyhound Growl Student Newspaper or Lyman High School as a whole.

Gina Carano, American actress,  was fired from her starring role in the Mandalorian after reposting “anti-Semitic” content on her Instagram story.  Previously known for her career as an MMA fighter, Carano was selected for he role of Cara Dune on The Mandalorian tv show that streamed on Disney Plus. Almost immediately after being cast, she was met with backlash. Viewers of her social media were already exposed to her presence on social media, and felt that it would impact the show in some way. Unfortuantely for Star Wars fans, they were right.

This was the picture that she reposted on her Instagram story on February 2nd that caused people to begin the #FireGinaCarano trend on Instagram and twitter. This wouldn’t be the first instance where Gina Carano had made provocative posts on social media, but this was certainly the last straw. A Lucasfilm spokesperson finally resolved the issue on the 10th of February, when he tweeted Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” and stating that “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

“While Disney does have the right to fire and hire whoever they feel necessary, I think people should relax a bit more when it comes to these topics. The way I see it is anyone should be able to say whatever they want as long as it is not directly hurting someone, or directly slandering someone. You don’t have to agree, or disagree, but she has the right. Do I agree with what she tweets? No. Do I think she should be able to? Yes.” Senior Nicholas Rios said.

(This section is an opinionated writing by junior staff member Jake Hopkins)

Gina Carano is known to be an open conservative much like myself. It is common for conservatives to feel like their views will not only be censored to the point of oppression but to also be targeted for ridicule and significantly more violent actions.

For example, Republican Senator (MO) Josh Hawley has had an encounter with radical members of Antifa who had shown up at his house in DC. “They threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel,” said Hawley. “They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door”

Carano’s reasoning for posting such a comparison was justified (in her opinion) due to similar treatment to Jews in the 1930’s and 40’s. People would throw insults at Jews along with literal objects as well. Those who wanted her fired found the post to be offensive to the Jewish community. However, I myself am a Jewish American and I not only found the post not to be offensive but I also agreed with it.

Disney is also a publicly owned company and by law, a publicly owned company cannot restrict an employee’s freedom of speech. Disney however did infringe upon this Constitutional right when Carano was fired for posting her opinion to the public.