'Mandalorian' star Gina Carano speaks out about social media backlash over conservative, anti-mask tweets
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Gina Carano opened up about facing criticism from the "Star Wars" community for her social media presence.
"The Mandalorian" actress previously caught backlash from critics on Twitter after sharing posts critical of Democrats and mask-wearing amid the coronavirus pandemic. The actress is rarely shy about sharing her conservative-leaning beliefs on social media, which led to calls for her to be kicked off the Disney+ original series.
Speaking during a recent interview with Youtuber Drunk 3PO, Carano talked about a myriad of issues including the "Star Wars" fandom and the reaction her social media posts have received among the topics.
In the first part of her interview, Carano explained how infighting among "Star Wars" fans has led to some divisive opinions and fighting over the franchise's future. She took the topic to a broader place, noting that people in the online community, in general, shy away from discourse in favor of "demoralizing" or canceling people they disagree with.
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Gina Carano spoke out about her controversial social media presence. (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
"People need to be OK with having conversations," she told the host. "With having difficult conversations, with having different opinions. What’s wrong with having a different opinion? Why does everybody have to straight go to demoralizing because maybe they just didn’t think the way you did?"
Elsewhere in the interview, the former MMA fighter explained that she maintains a Twitter presence in an effort to not allow the critics and trolls to dominate the space.
"My whole perspective on this is, I’ve seen people get bullied off of Twitter on both sides," she said. "I don’t like bullying, and If I don’t stay present, which I don’t even necessarily want to stay present that often, I want to make art, art is my passion, but if I don't stay present then other people win, other people win in bullying people off of platforms and there needs to be a more balanced platform."
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As for her own critics, Carano explained in the second part of her interview that she doesn’t intend to give in to calls to silence her.
"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 explained. "So I focus more on those people. I bring the fire out in people. I’m not sure why."
The crux of her previous backlash came when she shared a meme that depicted two people who seemed like they were purposely putting masks over their eyes.
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"BREAKING NEWS: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT LEADERS NOW RECOMMENDS [sic] WE ALL WEAR BLINDFOLDS ALONG WITH MASKS SO WE CAN’T SEE WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON," the meme read.
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Although the actress and athlete didn’t directly comment on the picture herself, her followers immediately voiced their outrage and called on Disney to remove her from the hit Disney+ "Star Wars" spinoff series.