Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for February 12
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Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas is stepping up to bat for embattled actress Gina Carano who was fired from the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian" for controversial social media posts.
Carano was hit with criticism and continues to be under scrutiny on social media for a post in which she compared today's political divide to the events in Nazi Germany.
The 38-year-old actress played Cara Dune on the popular Disney+ series and Lucasfilm confirmed in a statement Wednesday that she is "not currently employed by" the company and "there are no plans for" her return "in the future."
Carano's ousting resulted in both praise and fury from "Star Wars" fans. Those siding with the actress caused the hashtag #CancelDisneyPlus to trend on Twitter. But Cruz on Thursday suggested the streaming service was in the wrong for letting her go.
JAMES GUNN LIKES TWEET BASHING GINA CARANO AFTER DISNEY FIRES 'MANDALORIAN' ACTRESS
"Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked a-- & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney canceled her," Cruz tweeted.
Actress Gina Carano was fired from Lucasfilm's 'The Mandalorian' following backlash she received for controversial tweets. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
Cruz's tweet received its own attention from critics and supporters.
"She is awesome! Good for her for speaking up! And the censorship continues. Freedom of speech is gone," one person tweeted to Cruz.
"Where have all our freedoms gone? Sad days for us Patriots," another account replied.
Others felt Carano's comments weren't defendable and criticized Cruz's defense.
"My goal in life is to never do anything that gets Ted Cruz to come to my defense," one user criticized.
"Probably the Holocaust stuff they cancelled her for, Ted," another sarcastically wrote.
One person argued: "The issue is not with her character, who kicked a--. The issue is with the actor, who expressed horrific views that her employer does not want to be associated with."
GINA CARANO FACES BACKLASH FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS, 'NOT CURRENTLY EMPLOYED' BY 'STAR WARS'
Carano's controversial post read: "Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize 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."
Lucasfilm confirmed Wednesday Carano is 'not currently employed' by the company which sent 'Mandalorian' fans into a frenzy online. (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
A second post from Carano contained a photo of a person wearing cloth masks to cover their face and head with the caption: "Meanwhile in California." Variety reported that both posts were removed from her Instagram by Wednesday afternoon.
Others remained, however, including one that reportedly read, "Expecting everyone you encounter to agree with every belief or view you hold is f--king wild," as well as another that said, "Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself."
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Cruz isn't the only high-profile individual to react to Carano's controversy.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn appeared to approve of the online bashing of "The Mandalorian" actress by liking a tweet that defended him and knocked Carano. The tweet he "liked" on the platform read: "Oh f--k don't drag @JamesGunn into this unfortunate trending topic," written by entrepreneur Olga Kay.
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Other defenders of Carano pointed out various examples of hypocrisy, from a tweet by her "Mandalorian" co-star Pedro Pascal that compared Nazi concentration camps to American migrant housing facilities to Disney's ongoing business ties with China even as the Beijing government imprisons Uighur Muslims in concentration camps. The studio even thanked officials from the province of Xinjiang, where the camps are located, in the end credits of "Mulan."
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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