It seems like a high-profile figure gets taken down by cancel culture every other week. But this one might have a positive ending.
On Thursday, Disney fired The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano over supposedly “abhorrent” social media posts “denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities.” Critics were quick to point out that Carano’s post, while perhaps ill-advised like pretty much any Holocaust comparison, did no such thing.
You can read what she wrote on Instagram for yourself in full below:
I don’t see anything “abhorrent” about the well-intentioned, albeit clumsy and tone-deaf, comparison.
Of course, Carano’s past support for Republican causes and conservative statements have led many to believe that the firing was simply the liberal company seizing an opportunity to expel an inconvenient nonconformist. And conservatives have rightly pointed out the blatant hypocrisy from Disney, which ignores ongoing genocide in China and didn’t fire liberal actors who made foolish Holocaust comparisons during the Trump era.
Unlike many other examples of cancel culture in action, though, Carano is landing on her feet. On Friday, news broke that the fired Disney actress will partner with Ben Shapiro and his conservative media company, the Daily Wire, to produce and release a new movie.
“I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob,” Carano said during the announcement. “I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same.”
“They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them,” she concluded.
“We could not be more excited to be working with Gina Carano, an incredible talent dumped by Disney and Lucasfilm for offending the authoritarian Hollywood Left,” Shapiro said. “This is what Daily Wire exists to do: provide an alternative not just for consumers, but for creators who refuse to bow to the mob.”
This is a great development — and not just because it shows how conservatives can push back on cancel culture. Even more importantly, it’s another step by Shapiro and company into the culture to reclaim an enormously influential area of American life that for too long has been completely left to the liberal elite.
Shapiro and Carano’s collaboration comes after the conservative commentator distributed a new movie, Run Hide Fight, which the liberal Hollywood establishment refused to run due to its entirely nonpartisan but boldly pro-gun and pro-individual-responsibility depiction of a tragic school shooting. In a telling twist, the movie was viciously panned by critics — but has a 93% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
This suggests not just pent-up demand for a different message in our culture but the necessity of continuing on this path.
Ultimately, conservatives can argue on the merits of policy and economics on day-to-day issues as vociferously as we want. We may hold off liberalism’s rising tide in the short-term, but unless we regain cultural ground in shaping the next generation of ideas, long-term success is impossible.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a Washington Examiner contributor and host of the Breaking Boundaries podcast.
