Gina Carano resolves to ‘go down swinging’ in first full interview since exit from The Mandalorian

Former Cara Dune actor Gina Carano had the opportunity to frame her recent firing from The Mandalorian before a sympathetic audience Sunday, telling viewers of politically conservative interviewer Ben Shapiro that she would "go down swinging" and "stay true to myself" to defend the controversial social media posts that led to her dismissal from the Star Wars universe — while admitting that the experience has taught her to choose her public words more carefully.

Sitting down for an hour-long interview about the circumstances surrounding her firing from The Mandalorian and future Disney and Lucasfilm projects, Carano continued her outspoken pushback against what she described as the entertainment industry’s “bullying” of conservative political voices, while confessing that some sensitive metaphors — like the Holocaust metaphor she invoked in one of her most controversial Twitter posts — are often diminished through overuse.

“I’ve actually grown through the experience of just knowing that it’s not fair to the Jewish community to just throw this out here so much. When you say the world ‘Nazi’ and you call someone a Nazi, you need to have a little more respect on it,” she said, while defending her original Twitter remarks as speech she believed, at the time, “would be more of a thing that would bring people together.”

Carano said 2020 was a year in which she became more politically conscious and that the recent presidential election marked her first time ever to vote. But she doubled down on the idea that she and other actors shouldn’t be dismissed from high-profile projects for publicly expressing their ideological beliefs.

“I still am very fresh to this political spectrum. I mean, I have love for everyone. I’m not a hateful person," she said. "In fact, I go out of my way, and I have gone out of my way my entire life, not to be a hateful person. I mean, yeah, I fought in the ring [as a former MMA fighter], and I do have hot blood. But it’s usually hot blood when it deals with people being bullied.”

Disney stated it would cease working with Carano in the wake of several Carano Twitter posts that created a storm of online backlash from many members of the LGBTQ community who regarded her remarks as transphobic and racially insensitive. The controversy intensified calls for her firing as the #FireGinaCarano hashtag began trending on social media, leading Disney and Lucasfilm to sever their ties with Carano on Feb. 10. “[H]er social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson said at the time.

Carano has since inked an agreement to star in a future film project to be distributed through The Daily Wire, the conservative media company co-founded by Shapiro. Disney and Lucasfilm have indicated that there are no plans to replace Carano’s Cara Dune when The Mandalorian resumes with its upcoming 3rd season. Toy maker Hasbro also has revealed it has no plans to create new Star Wars action figures based on Carano's character.