#CancelDisneyPlus Trends As Conservatives Rage Over Gina Carano's Firing

Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios and The Walt Disney Company DIS reportedly fired actress Gina Carano Wednesday following an Instagram post in which she compared being a conservative to being Jewish in Nazi Germany.

What Happened: On Wednesday, #FireGinaCarano was trending following "The Mandalorian" actress’ post, which she later deleted.

The ex-MMA fighter and vocal Trump supporter has made antagonistic posts in the past regarding mask wearing during the pandemic and her belief in the lie that voter fraud helped elect President Joe Biden in November. 

“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” Lucasfilm said in a statement.

Carano was subsequently dropping by her talent agency UTA, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

This enraged some conservatives, and by Thursday morning #CancelDisneyPlus was trending on Twitter as Trump supporters and Carano fans sought to fight back against the streaming service by canceling subscriptions en masse. 

Why It Matters: The idea of "cancel culture," a form of group shaming made possible by social media, has become a buzzword in the divisive U.S. political landscape.

Social media platforms such as Twitter Inc. TWTR and Facebook Inc. FB have come under fire for banning prominent voices. When former President Donald Trump was removed from platforms in January for"‘risk of further incitement of violence," the debate over the power of private companies hit the international stage. 

But it goes both ways. Corporations are known to ban customers or fire employees for speaking out and consequently, groups of social media users have learned to group together to call for a boycott of a company’s services in the hopes that lost revenue will force a change.

In September of last year, subscribers of Netflix Inc. NFLX staged a similar effort when #CancelNetflix was trending after the streaming service released a promotional poster for its movie “Cuties” in which underaged actors posed provocatively.

What’s Next: There have been mixed reactions from big corporations in response to customers calling for their services to be canceled.

After Twitter banned Trump, shares in the company fell temporarily, but Twitter didn’t budge and went on to ban more prominent conservative voices and conspiracy theorists.

In contrast, Netflix apologized for the depiction on its promo poster and the controversy quickly calmed.

So far, Lucasfilm looks set to hold its position on terminating Carano, and it might not have much to worry about: Netflix netted 2.2 million subscribers for the third quarter of 2020, the period in which the controversial "Cuties" was released.

"The Mandalorian" screenshot courtesy of Disney.