For Immediate Release

February 12, 2020

Contact: kon@newtolerance.org

In the wake of the breaking Gina Carano scandal, the New Tolerance Campaign (NTC) is calling on Disney to maintain consistent standards when responding to actors’ social media posts. The watchdog organization has launched a new email campaign demanding Disney correct its tolerance hypocrisy.

Disney recently fired Carano from her role in the Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian over an Instagram post comparing the treatment of conservatives to Jews during the Holocaust, an admittedly inaccurate comparison – yet took no action to similarly hyperbolic Holocaust analogies from Carano’s co-star Pedro Pascal. The inconsistency follows a recent pattern of concerning ethical decisions by Disney, raising concerns about the corporation’s commitment to uniform ethical standards.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Carano argued that “to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

Subsequently, Disney-owned Lucasfilm released a statement saying that Carano was not an employee and wouldn’t be in the future, adding: “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable”. Yet, Carano’s post did not “denigrate” anyone, but rather echoed the hyperbolic Holocaust analogy tweeted by Mandalorian co-star Pedro Pascal, who compared ICE detention facilities to Nazi concentration camps, a less-than-accurate comparison as well.

Disney has not clarified why it held Carano to a different standard than Pascal – or the many Disney-affiliated individuals have compared Donald Trump to Hitler without repercussions. Furthermore, the credits of Disney’s recent live-action film Mulan express “special thanks” to several government entities in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government imprisons citizens in brutal camps because of their Muslim beliefs.

New Tolerance Campaign’s mission is to mobilize Americans to confront intolerance double-standards by establishment institutions, including socially-conscious brands like Disney. NTC notes that Disney has fallen into the sadly familiar pattern of wielding tolerance standards selectively as a political weapon. Disney criticizes the moral conduct of certain people while ignoring vile bigotry by others – in this case even partnering with a genocidal regime for profit.

Influential companies like Disney need to stop the tolerance double-standards once and for all. Ironically, the company’s over-the-top response to an Instagram post seems to validate Carano’s warning about turning neighbors into enemies. Socially responsible corporate conduct requires uniform standards applied consistently to all. 

View the campaign