Dana White stands up for Gina Carano.
The former MMA star turned actress made headlines this week when she was fired from Disney’s The Mandalorian as well as by Lucasfilm, the studio that produces the popular Star Wars spin-off. Carano’s abolition came in the wake of the 38-year-old who faced public criticism for a series of Instagram story posts featuring shots of wearing masks as a COVID-19 security measure and an anti-conservative sentiment.
Carano seemingly focused on the latter issue with a post comparing what she considered the plight of persecuted conservatives to the slander of Jews during the era of the Holocaust.
The message since deleted read as follows:
“Jews were beaten in the street, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors… even by children. Because history is being edited, most people today don’t realize that in order to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily gather thousands of Jews together, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply because they were Jews. How is that different from hating someone because of their political views. “
This wasn’t the first time Carano took an aggressive stance with her political views (she also propagated baseless QAnon conspiracy theories), but this time the ensuing backlash led to her being removed from a lead role as Cara Dune on The Mandalorian
A statement from Lucasilm condemned Carano’s statements as “repugnant” and “unacceptable”. Her representation at United Talent Agency has also said goodbye to her.
Speaking to reporters Friday after the official weigh-ins and staredowns of UFC 258, UFC President Dana White made a brief statement of support for the former fighter when asked about the controversy.
“Leave Gina alone,” White said. Listen, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. “
The relationship between White and Carano has been icy in the past, with White publicly voicing his frustration at trying to set up a UFC fight between then-bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Carano in 2014. White called Carano ‘the hardest human we have. . have ever dealt with ”with regard to negotiations.
In 2019, Carano revealed in an interview that White’s profane lyrics and a lack of professionalism on his part were a major factor in her decision not to sign with the UFC.
“Dana spoke about me and spoke about my name and told people he was going to sign me and I don’t even have a team yet,” said Carano. ‘And I was like, that’s not what we discussed. You should have given me at least six months to find a team. Then he tried to exert pressure through the media. It was a shame because I told him via text that it was not what we had been talking about. I need time, and now I’m going to walk into a gym and people know I do and I had to build trust and find people.
“So then he kept doing that and kept doing that and I’m still looking for a team and feeling all that pressure. Then he texted me saying, ‘This b * tch is making us round,’ or something.
“So I texted back and said ‘I think you sent that to the wrong person’ and he said ‘I don’t think I did that’ and that was the last conversation we ever had via text message because I don’t think that’s the kind of environment I wanted to come back to. So I cut off all communication after that text. “
Carano is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of MMA for women. She competed from 2006-2009, a period when she competed in several high-profile competitions broadcast on cable television, a rarity at the time. The last fight of her career, a loss to Cris Cyborg on August 15, 2009, reportedly attracted 576,000 viewers on Showtime.
A day after news of her departure from Disney and Lucasfilm, Carano announced that she is working with conservative pundit Ben Shapiro to produce a film through his website The Daily Wire.
“I am sending a direct message of hope to all who live in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian crowd,” said Carano. “I’ve only just started using my voice, which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They cannot cancel us if we do not allow them. “