Why Did Disney Settle Its Gina Carano Lawsuit? Hint: It Might Have To Do With the NFL, ESPN, and Trump

This week, Disney shocked everyone when it struck a deal with fired Mandalorian star Gina Carano. Disney fired the Star Wars actress after she compared republicans in America to Jewish people in Nazi Germany. However, in her lawsuit, Carano noted that Disney did not punish her co-star, Pedro Pascal, who compared Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler.

That seems to be all in the past now as Disney eagerly welcomed Carano back, saying it hoped they would “work together again.” But this raises a larger question: What made Disney decide to settle 18 months into the case, and why this week?

Internet sleuths had a reasonable answer to this question. Carano’s legal team, funded by Elon Musk and X, was about to get into the discovery phase, which would have forced Disney to turn over emails, which could have been embarrassing to the company.

The emails would have included everything, including internal political discussions, Carano’s statements, and potentially statements made by other Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel stars (see Mark Ruffalo). It’s unlikely that there would have been a smoking gun with Disney CEO Bob Iger telling underlings to “fire Carano for being a conservative,” but perhaps Disney did not want to take that chance.

There is another reason that makes more sense: why it happened this week and why Disney needs to appease Donald Trump at this moment. Just a day before Disney’s settlement with Carano was announced, Disney announced it had struck a deal with the NFL to purchase its content library, the NFL Network, and the NFL’s Red Zone channel.

This deal also gives the NFL a 10 percent stake in ESPN. The combination of the two is bound to bring regulatory scrutiny, and that’s exactly what’s happened.

Even before the deal was official, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was sniffing around the deal to ensure it didn’t break any laws. And then, just a day after the deal was announced, Reuters reported that the Department of Justice was opening an investigation into the agreement that could take up to a year to resolve.

This is a massive deal for ESPN, giving them significantly more NFL content and the inside track to take over the NFL’s streaming rights in a few years. And with ESPN’s streaming-only service coming soon, having the NFL will draw fans and their wallets to the new service.

This is where the Federal Government comes in. Disney needs a smooth process to get this deal approved, and other deals have had a smooth path after the companies struck a deal in their lawsuits with Trump.

While the Carano lawsuit didn’t directly involve Trump, it involved his on-again-off-again friend, Elon Musk. Musk’s legal team uncovered any embarrassing information about Disney or comments employees made about Trump in discovery; those emails would have been made public, angering Trump and potentially slowing the ESPN/NFL deal.

The easier path was to simply settle with Carano, promise to work with her again, and pay her off. She was, after all, only asking for $75,000, a drop in the bucket for Disney, especially with a multi-billion-dollar deal on the line.

There is no coincidence; only the illusion of coincidence. Given what’s at stake, Disney appeared to take the path of least resistance and chose not to anger the person with the power to approve this deal. It all makes sense now.

Why do you think Disney chose to settle with Gina Carano at this point? Let us know in the comments.