'The Mandalorian' star Gina Carano addresses her controversial social media presence: 'I bring the fire out in people'

Jason Guerrasio
the mandalorian
Gina Carano plays Cara Dune in "The Mandalorian." Disney Plus

  • For the first time, "The Mandalorian" star Gina Carano spoke about her controversial social media presence while interviewed by "Star Wars" YouTuber Drunk3PO.

  • "If my presence bothers you, OK, but also a lot of people are not bothered by my Twitter presence or my social media presence," she said. "So I focus more on those people. I bring the fire out in people. I'm not sure why."

  • Carano's past tweets about voter fraud in the US election and mask-wearing caused "Star Wars" fans to start the hashtag #FireGinaCarano last year.

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

"The Mandalorian" star Gina Carano addressed her controversial social media presence in an interview with StarWars YouTuber Drunk 3PO.

"I'm going to stick around and if my presence bothers you, OK, but also a lot of people are not bothered by my Twitter presence or my social media presence," she said. "So I focus more on those people. I bring the fire out in people. I'm not sure why."

Carano, the former MMA star who is now best known for playing Cara Dune in Disney Plus' "The Mandalorian" series, has drawn criticism in the past for her social media posts on wearing masks and voter fraud in the US election (which has been debunked).

Carano has also asked her followers to join her on Parler, a social-media app touted by Republican politicians and right-wing pundits, which brands itself as a "free speech" platform and has "no fact checkers."

Over the weekend, Apple joined Google in banning Parler from the App store for failing to remove content that promoted violence, The New York Times reported.

Carano's controversial tweets led to the hashtag #FireGinaCarano, which gained traction when her character (Dune) made her first appearance in the second season of "The Mandalorian." However, there are many fans that stand behind her and countered with the #StandWithGinaCarano hashtag.

The Cara Dune character on "The Mandalorian" is a major fixture on the show. A former Rebel shock trooper and now marshal of the New Republic, Mando often teams with her, including on the show's season 2 finale when they board Moff Gideon's ship to save Grogu.

And it's possible Carano will dive deeper into the "Star Wars" canon with the upcoming Disney Plus series "Rangers of the New Republic" that has fans assuming her Dune characters will be a major part of.

Read more:

'The Mandalorian' composer reveals how he used classic 'Star Wars' themes to create the dramatic season 2 finale score

'Star Wars' legend Mark Hamill reacts to the 'unexpected' cameo on 'The Mandalorian' season finale

What we know so far about season 2 of HBO's 'Euphoria'

Read the original article on Insider

Latest Stories

  • Acting Australian PM compares Capitol attack to BLM protests and says Twitter ‘censoring’ Trump

    'A lot of things on Twitter previously haven't received that sort of condemnation or indeed censorship,' says McCormack

  • Talk-Radio Owner Threatens to Fire Hosts Who Dispute Election Results

    A media company that employs right wing talk-radio hosts, including Mark Levin, Dan Bongino, and Ben Shapiro, circulated a memo after the pro-Trump riots on Capitol Hill telling hosts to dial down allegations of election fraud, or else face termination.Cumulus Media sent the internal memo to employees on Wednesday, according to Inside Music Media. The Atlanta-based company owns 416 radio stations throughout the country, many using a talk-radio format with local and national right-wing personalities."We need to help induce national calm NOW," Cumulus's executive vice president of content Brian Philips wrote in the memo. The company "will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’"Philips added, "If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately."The move by Cumulus came shortly before Google, Apple, and Amazon ceased hosting social media app Parler. Similar in form to Twitter, Parler became popular with users who chafed over perceived censorship of right-wing views.However, the site's hosts claimed Parler was not doing enough to moderate its content for posts that included incitement to violence. Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood has called for the execution of Vice President Mike Pence on the site, for example, although Parler CEO John Matze said that post was removed eventually.The pro-Trump riot on Wednesday, led by supporters who believe the election was rigged against the president, left dozens of police officers injured. One officer was killed while confronting rioters, and one rioter was shot and killed by police.

  • Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Arrested, Charged in Capitol Riot

    Larry Rendall Brock Jr., an Air Force veteran seen brandishing zip tie handcuffs during the pro-Trump siege at the U.S. Capitol, was arrested Sunday in Texas.

  • In 1st sermon since Senate win, Warnock says U.S. can't change until it faces the 'sickness of our situation'

    In his first sermon since winning his Senate race on Tuesday, Rev. Raphael Warnock told worshipers at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta that he wanted to talk to them about "God's victory over violence."On Wednesday, one day after Warnock was elected Georgia's first Black senator and fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff was elected the state's first Jewish senator, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. "Just as we were trying to put on our celebration shoes, the ugly side of our story — our great and grand American story — began to emerge as we saw the crude and the angry and the disrespectful and the violent break their way into the people's house, some carrying Confederate flags, signs and symbols of an Old World Order passing away," said Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church."They were not protesters, they were rioters, tearing up the people's house, and they were handled with the kind of kid gloves with humanity," Warnock continued. "One could not help but juxtapose that to the response to those who were responding this summer to the deaths of George Floyd and the death of Breonna Taylor, those who rose up in peaceful, nonviolent struggle, and were met with brute force."The U.S. must face what happened on Wednesday, he said, acknowledging that "we cannot and we will not change until we confront or are confronted by the sickness of our situation. That applies to individuals, that applies to institutions, that applies to nations. You can never get better until you have an actual diagnosis."More stories from theweek.com Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield halt donations to lawmakers who opposed certifying Biden win 7 scathing cartoons about Trump's Capitol riot Sympathy for Ashli Babbitt

  • Trump rioter in full body armour and carrying zip-ties ‘is bartender who broke into Capitol with his mother’

    Mr Munchel said his intention was not to fight with the police but ‘to show them that we can, and we will’

  • Clyburn Hints House Won’t Send Articles of Impeachment to Senate for Biden’s First 100 Days

    House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., Ga.) indicated that the House may not send articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate during the first 100 days of Joe Biden's presidency, in an interview on CNN.Congressional Democrats have called for removing Trump from office after the president incited a mob of supporters to head to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, while Congress was in the midst of certifying the Electoral College results. The mob breached the Capitol and forced lawmakers to evacuate, and dozens of police officers were injured in the riots. One officer was killed, and one rioter was shot and killed by police.House Democrats are currently circulating one article of impeachment against the president for "incitement to insurrection," and could vote on the article before Trump leaves office. However, Clyburn indicated that the House may wait to send the article to the Senate for a trial and vote."We'll take the vote that we should take in the House, and [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.)] will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate," Clyburn told CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Union.Clyburn added, "It just so happens that if it didn't go over there for 100 days, it could — let's give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we'll send the articles sometime after that."Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) outlined a potential schedule for Senate impeachment proceedings in a memo to colleagues, obtained by the Washington Post. According to the memo, starting a Senate impeachment trial before Trump leaves office on January 20 is almost impossible.If two-thirds of the Senate votes to convict Trump after leaving office, Trump would be prevented from running for the presidency again in 2024. With both parties tied 50-50 in the Senate after Biden's inauguration, Democrats would need to enlist 17 Republican senators to vote to convict Trump.Senator Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) called for Trump to resign on Sunday, and Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) has said he would "definitely consider" any articles of impeachment approved by the House. However, Senator Roy Blunt (R., Mo.), said on Sunday that there was "no way" the Senate would impeach Trump.

  • U.S. small businesses to get more cash as pandemic loan program re-opens

    The U.S. government on Monday was set to re-open its signature small business pandemic aid program with $284 billion in new funds and revamped rules that aim to get cash to the most needy businesses while stamping out fraud and abuse. The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on Friday that it would launch a third round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) this week, starting with small community financial institutions on Monday, and larger lenders in coming days. By prioritizing smaller lenders, the SBA hopes to address criticism from lawmakers that minority and women-owned businesses did not get enough money during the first two PPP rounds last year compared with bigger businesses.

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger has a pointed, personal warning about the 'broken men' who believed Nazi lies

    Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) posted a video Sunday about Wednesday's assault on the U.S. Capitol, and he made some not-so-subtle comparisons to the Nazis. He said the "Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys" had terrorized and rampaged against the Jews in the 1938 "Night of the Broken Glass," or Kristallnacht, and "Wednesday was the Day of Broken Glass right here in the United States. The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol. But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol, they shattered the ideas we took for granted."Then Schwarzenegger got personal, noting that he was born in 1947 Austria, "in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy." He shared a "painful story" about his father — and the other war-torn fathers who lived next door — getting drunk and beating their families."Growing up, I was surrounded by broken men drinking away their guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history," Schwarzenegger said. "Not all of them were rabid anti-Semites or Nazis. Many just went along, step by step, down the road. They were the people next door," and they got violently drunk because "they were in physical pain because of the shrapnel in their bodies and in emotional pain from what they saw or did. It all started with lies, and lies, and lies, and intolerance.""President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, and of a fair election!" Schwarzenegger said. "He sought a coup by misleading people with lies. My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead." He called "a number of members of my own party" spineless cowards and said while Trump is "a failed leader" who "will go down in history as the worst president ever," the elected leaders who "enabled his lies and his treachery" should remember that patriotism means to stand by the country, not the president.The video could have gone off the rails when Schwarzenegger pulled out out his sword from Conan the Barbarian, but he used it to illustrate a hopeful message about the strength and resilience of American democracy.More stories from theweek.com Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield halt donations to lawmakers who opposed certifying Biden win 7 scathing cartoons about Trump's Capitol riot Sympathy for Ashli Babbitt

  • Companies suspend donations to U.S. lawmakers

    Some of the world's biggest companies said on Sunday they will suspend donations to U.S lawmakers who voted against certifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory. They include two of the biggest U.S banks, J.P Morgan Chase and Citigroup, the world's largest hotel company, Marriot as well the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, a federation of 36 independent companies that provide healthcare insurance. It follows last Wednesday's violence in Washington, when President Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the formal recognition of Trump's defeat. Five people died, including a police officer. JPMorgan and Citigroup said they will pause all political action committee donations, over the coming months. In a memo to employees seen by Reuters, Citigroup's global government affairs head, Candi Wolff said "We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law." They had previously donated to Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who led the charge against the certification of Biden's win. Other major U.S. companies like Ford and Walmart haven't paused donations yet, but a Walmart spokesman said they will factor in last week's events to their review process. Meanwhile, the digital payments company Stripe said it would stop processing payments for Trump's campaign website following the riot. And late Sunday the PGA tweeted that its board voted to strip the 2022 PGA golf championship away from the Trump National Bedminster golf club in New Jersey.

  • China Has Reacted to the Storming of the U.S. Capitol by Comparing It to the Wrecking of Hong Kong's Legislature

    The storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6 stunned the world. In China, many watching the events in Washington D.C. immediately made comparisons to the violent occupation of Hong Kong's legislature in mid-2019.

  • Trump-supporting Christian leaders and their Sunday messages

    Support for President Donald Trump has been consistently strong among evangelicals, with some professing that he has been the best friend Christians have had in the White House. On the first Sunday since a mob of his supporters seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's election stormed the U.S. Capitol and five people including a police officer died, the messages from the pulpits of Christian leaders who've backed Trump were as disparate as the opinions of the nation's citizenry. Brian Gibson, pastor and founder of HIS Church, spoke to his Christian congregation and online viewers about his bus tour around the U.S. the past month to speak with supporters of President Trump.

  • Fishermen kill minke whale trapped for 19 days in Japan's 'Cove'

    Fishermen killed a whale off the Japanese port of Taiji early on Monday morning, 19 days after the juvenile minke whale had been penned into a cove with nets. Ren Yabuki, director of the animal rights organisation Life Investigation Agency, said two fishing boats from Taiji approached the whale - which has been weakened by not being able to feed since it was trapped as by-catch on Christmas Eve - at around 6.30am. “There were two ships that worked together to put a rope around the tail fin and force the whale’s head beneath the water”, Mr Yabuki told The Telegraph. “They kept it alongside the boat and it took about 20 minutes for the whale to drown. “That’s a really bad way for an animal to die and I’m shaking with sadness at what I have seen this morning." His organisation and others around the world have been calling on the fishermen to release the whale and called on members of the public to message the governor of Wakayama Prefecture to demand that he intervene. Video footage obtained by a drone operated by Mr Yabuki showed the whale distressed and becoming visibly weaker The whale’s body was later hoisted onto the deck of one of the vessels, covered with a blue tarpaulin and the ship returned to the harbour. Mr Yabuki said he understands that the whale is being butchered within a building owned by the town’s fishing cooperative and that the meat will be sold at local supermarkets. Taiji has gained notoriety for its annual dolphin hunt, which was featured in the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary “The Cove”. The Australian branch of Humane Society International has also condemned the killing of the whale, with a spokesperson saying the organisation was “saddened by this dreadful outcome”. “It is soul-destroying to think that by merely lifting the net three weeks ago, this poor animal could have been swimming freed instead of being trapped in prolonged distress”. Angered at the international community’s refusal to permit Japan to resume commercial whaling, Tokyo resigned from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and permits its fleet to harpoon 383 whales every year, including as by-catch in other fishing operations. “HSI believes that deliberately entrapping whales for prolonged periods under the guise of ‘by-catch’ is inhumane and we call on the people of Japan to speak out against this cruelty”, said Georgie Dolphin, head of the organisation’s Animal Welfare Programme.

  • Experts express concern about Biden's plan to release nearly all available vaccine doses

    President-elect Joe Biden plans to release nearly every available dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines when he takes office later this month rather than holding back millions of second doses, his transition team said Friday. The decision is meant to "ensure the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible."The Trump administration has insisted it's necessary to retain second doses, with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Friday expressing concern that Biden's plan could backfire if there are any manufacturing mishaps.Outside of the White House, Dr. Leana Wen of George Washington University, was also apprehensive, noting that there is "an ethical consideration" since those who volunteered for the initial dose were reasonably expecting to receive the second in the proper amount of time. Biden does not intend to delay the second shot for those patients, and is instead counting on an increased production to keep pace. But, Wen says, not only is there no guarantee of a smooth manufacturing process, much of the slowdown has occurred between distribution and injection, so until that stage improves the risk of delay remains.> First, the bottleneck now is not supply, but the "last mile" between getting the vaccine to distribution sites & injecting it into people's arms. Speeding up this process should be the focus, or else vaccines will just sit in different freezers. > > (2/6)> > -- Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) January 9, 2021Harvard University's Juliette Kayyem, however, is more on board with the plan. She believes it's unlikely there will be a supply problem and is encouraged by recent upticks in actual vaccinations. > Quick thoughts: we are unlikely to have a supply problem by Feb with Biden announcement (he is not changing FDA standards, only distribution timing of first vaccine because of reliance on supply chain per @ScottGottliebMD good idea) and other vaccines (johnson and johnson). 2/> > -- Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) January 9, 2021More stories from theweek.com Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield halt donations to lawmakers who opposed certifying Biden win 7 scathing cartoons about Trump's Capitol riot Sympathy for Ashli Babbitt

  • Trump's demoralized staff count down the final days

    President Donald Trump has lost the support of many former loyalists in his administration after a riot at the U.S. Capitol that he helped provoke, and his White House is in "meltdown" as it lurches through his final days, current and former officials said. While Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment against Trump on Monday, many White House staff members are upset and embarrassed by the turn of events, and are eager to move on. Some who weighed resigning in the last few days have decided to stay on to help ensure a smooth transfer of power and, within the agencies that report to the White House, to protect against rash moves by the president or his remaining inner circle.

  • Vaccines partly funded by UK taxpayer will be exported to EU

    Coronavirus vaccines manufactured in British labs, partly funded by the UK taxpayer, are set to also be exported to Europe, The Telegraph has learned. One company manufacturing the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab has received almost £40m of government-funded equipment to speed up the rollout of the vaccine, and will use it to fulfill orders around the world. The UK has ordered 100 million doses, while the EU and US have ordered 300 million each. In May, ministers gave Oxford Biomedica, the company manufacturing the jabs, equipment for two suites costing a total of £38 million, as part of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC). Approval for the two suites to begin producing doses was granted by the vaccine regulator in September and October, and manufacturing has now begun. A spokeswoman for the company said it also expected to begin exporting jabs to Europe. A decision is expected by European regulators later this month, approving the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab for use in the EU. While government sources said any exports to Europe would not slow down the supply of the vaccine to the UK, Oxford Biomedica remains free to use the equipment to fulfill orders from any other countries. "We've got an 18-month contract, I am sure that in due course we will be exporting as well into Europe,” a spokeswoman said.

  • 6 inmates use 'homemade rope' to escape from California jail

    Authorities in central California were searching Sunday for six inmates who used a “homemade rope” to escape from a county jail, sheriff's officials said. All six escapees should be considered armed and dangerous, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

  • Capitol rioters shown beating face-down police officer

    Information continues to be released regarding Wednesday’s violent attack on the U.S. Capitol and the new updates prove to be just as shocking as what we already know. A new video released on Sunday shows pro-Trump rioters beating an officer who is laying facedown on the ground. The rioters pull the officer down and use objects in their hands to beat him.

  • Trump reportedly told Kelly Loeffler he'd 'do a number on her' if she didn't back Electoral College challenge

    President Trump was prepared to "do a number" on outgoing Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) last week on stage during the president's final pre-runoff rally in Georgia, a source familiar with the events told The Washington Free Beacon's Eliana Johnson, per Politico.The implication is that Trump told Loeffler what he said about her on stage was contingent upon whether she backed the Electoral College challenge championed by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), among others.> Scoop in @playbookplus, guest-written today by @elianayjohnson:> > Trump “told Kelly Loeffler before he landed in Georgia for a final rally on Monday that if she didn’t back the Electoral College challenges, he would ‘do a number on her,’ from the stage.”https://t.co/qdxrdmRB1N> > — Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 10, 2021Loeffler did plan to object, though it's unclear if the decision was directly related to Trump's alleged threat. Ultimately, the point was moot, since Loeffler lost to her Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, and wound up voting to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory afterwards. But the report still carries some significance for analysts, who think it's a microcosm of the larger issues that led to Loeffler's defeat.> In the end, it’s a symptom of the broader dynamic of Loeffler’s loss, one that was evident from the beginning of the year. She tried to transform herself into something she was not, alienating moderates while never being genuine enough to win over a skeptical Trump base.> > — Jacob Rubashkin (@JacobRubashkin) January 10, 2021Johnson's scoop also further suggests that Trump was willing to let the Republican Party lose control of the Senate for personal gain.More stories from theweek.com Marriott, Blue Cross Blue Shield halt donations to lawmakers who opposed certifying Biden win 7 scathing cartoons about Trump's Capitol riot Sympathy for Ashli Babbitt

  • Taiwan's new passport hopes to banish confusion with China

    Taiwan rolled out a newly redesigned passport on Monday that gives greater prominence to the island's day-to-day name, aiming to avoid confusion with China amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Beijing's stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty. Existing Taiwanese passports have "Republic of China", its formal name, written in large English font at the top, with "Taiwan" printed at the bottom, creating confusion internationally according to the government. During the early days of the pandemic Taiwan says some of its citizens were confused with Chinese nationals and on occasion unfairly subject to the same COVID-19-related entry bans when the disease was well under control in Taiwan though not in China.

  • Gunman on 'murderous rampage' leaves at least three dead in Illinois

    A "violent criminal and his murderous rampage was stopped," Chicago police Supt. David O'Neal Brown tweeted.