Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Opinion, Paramount+, Star Wars, TV, TV | Tagged: disney, gina carano, kathleen kennedy, lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, opinion, south park, The Mandalorian

South Park Swaps "The Mouse" for Kathleen Kennedy; Gina Carano Big Fan

If Gina Carano enjoyed how Kathleen Kennedy was portrayed in the latest South Park special, maybe Trey Parker & Matt Stone missed the point.

Here's the thing about Trey Parker & Matt Stone's latest, Paramount+'s South Park: Joining the Panderverse. No one can say that the Paramount+ "special event" doesn't take shots at all sides of a very timely topic. Namely, how films & television series have begun diversifying their casts in an effort to appeal to a broader viewing audience that reflects 2023 and not 1963. On one side, folks argue that this "forced wokeness" is coming at the expense of franchises that have worked for years and don't need "fixing." On the other side, folks argue that the time has more than come for some viewers to stop feeling like they're not part of the universes that they enjoy – left to look in from outside at the same old, same old time and time again. They also note hypocrisy among some white, straight viewers who are resistant to embracing characters who don't look or act like they do yet expect viewers of color and the LGBTQ community to sit quietly and accept the very same thing. Parker & Stone didn't miss anyone on either side (and those spaces in-between) when it came to placing some blame – but it was the way that Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy was presented that left us feeling uneasy.

Just to be clear? Parker & Stone have gone after Disney in the past -and rightfully so. And with the way things have been going over the past year or so, "The Mouse" is ripe for another round of satirical attacks. But while most (but not all) of what we've seen in the past has been directed at Disney in the form of a Mickey Mouse-like sociopath representing the company, making Kennedy the "poster child" for all of Disney's problems felt a bit – personal. Granted, the argument can easily be made that Kennedy was used to mock how the folks on the "anti-woke" side always bring her name up when trashing Disney. Maybe. But considering how long the "joke" was stretched out (and the exchanges with Cartman didn't help), it felt less like satire and more like Parker & Stone were trying to teach Kennedy (and Disney) some kind of lesson. But what lesson? Sure, you can question some of the decision-making by Lucasfilm under her watch – that's more than fair territory.

But assigning blame to Kennedy for Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige's questionable long-term decision-making, Disney's "Bobs'" (Ex-CEO Bob Chapek and Current CEO Bob Iger) mismanaging of the "bigger picture," a global pandemic, a first-time-in-over-60-years double labor strike involving SAG-AFTRA & WGA, and other factors just feels… well, lazy. But worse than that, it offers red meat to the folks who don't take the time to understand or appreciate sarcasm or layered satire. That's why social media is flooded with folks who chopped up clips from the special, posting them as "proof" that Kennedy's to blame… for everything! And that includes ex-The Mandalorian supporting cast member Gina Carano, who is using the special to justify her position behind her being fired from the streaming series.

In a recent diatribe posted on Twitter/X (full text below), Carano shared visions of what she sees happening next now that the special is streaming. But what's the most interesting thing about the post is that we're assuming that Carano is looking to make a connection between being booted from The Mandalorian (more on that below) and what South Park had to say about Kennedy. Why's that interesting? Because other than Carano enjoying Parker & Stone twisting the knife on Kennedy, there's nothing there to connect the two. And yet, it's all Carano needed to take some kind of victory lap. Here's a screencap & text of what The Daily Wire's newest action star had to say – followed by a reminder of how Carano lost the role of Cara Dune:

"This is the part where KK demands any YouTubers get censored off of YouTube for sharing and laughing at this hilarious episode, she'll have YouTube disable the thumbs down option because of the ratio she'll receive, then she'll have her publicist ghouls make sure Variety and Hollywood Reporter run hit pieces about the South Park creators and their families smearing their names through every useful idiot she has under her thumb who would sell their soul to work for Lucas film, she'll activate her online mob to repeat that the South Park creators are racist, bigot, transphobes, and demand the South Park creators publicly apologize by only using words she approves of and finally she'll demand they subject themselves to a re-education course of 45 people in the lbgtq community zoom call to sit there and listen of how badly they got their feelings hurt all over a little boop of a South Park episode. But maybe just maybe the jig is up."

The Mandalorian/Gina Carano: A Look Back

As was reported, Carano got the boot from Lucasfilm & Disney+'s original "Star Wars" spinoff series in February 2021 after months of controversial social media posts that peddled whackjob conspiracy theories & half-assed pseudo-science in addition to finding ways to insult the very fanbase that actually allowed her to collect a paycheck from "The Mouse." It culminated in an Instagram Stories post where Carano supported comparing the "persecution" that she believes conservatives were enduring (especially with the COVID pandemic) with what Jewish people suffered in Nazi Germany. Check out a screencap of the image Carano posted above, which was reportedly the streaming service's final straw. Of course, the post was taken down to make it seem like nothing ever happened, which is why it's always good to have screencaps (we made out thoughts known on Carano having no one to blame but herself here, here, here, here, and here).

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