UFC President Dana White has joined the chorus of those denouncing former MMA fighter Gina Carano’s firing from Disney’s “The Mandalorian” over a social media post in which she warned that the Holocaust could happen in the United States through the dehumanization of political opponents.
Speaking at UFC 258 on Saturday, Dana White said that while he believes Carano made a mistake with her social media post, she should not be cancelled for it.
“Leave her alone. We make mistakes, we all make mistakes,” White said. “For everybody to go in on her … I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him, such a d**che.”
Dana White, regarding Gina Carano, says leave @ginacarano alone & calls Ariel Helwani a Douche #UFC258 pic.twitter.com/CZPcZk0nY0
— Helen Yee (@HelenYeeSports) February 12, 2021
As reported by Fox News, White was referring to UFC reporter Ariel Helwani, who said in an Instagram video that many of Carano’s posts didn’t “sit well” with him.
“As a Jewish person, and as a human being, it just doesn’t sit well,” said Helwani. “And I wish she would have never posted that. And quite frankly I wish someone would have talked to her about her social media posts over the past year. Some of them not even political. Just in general, they felt off to me. I am sorry she has gone down this path.”
Last week, the hashtag #FireGinaCarano began trending on Twitter in response to an Instagram story in which she quoted The Warrior Priest Podcast lamenting about how Nazis used neighbors to oppress their citizens.
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?”
In a statement, Lucasfilm, a company owned by Disney, denounced Carano’s social media posts as “abhorrent.”
“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” the company said. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Shortly after her firing, however, The Daily Wire announced that it would be joining forces with Gina Carano.
“The Daily Wire is helping make one of my dreams — to develop and produce my own film — come true,” she told Deadline in a statement. “I cried out and my prayer was answered. I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. 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.”