Sen. Melendez Introduces Anti-Discrimination Bills to Fight ‘Cancel Culture’

California State Senator Melissa Melendez (R -Lake Elsinore) introduced an Anti-Discrimination bill package aimed to protect against cancel culture discrimination.

The most recent example of “cancel culture” is actress Gina Carano, former mixed martial arts fighter, and star of The Mandalorian and the Star Wars galaxy.

The Daily Wire reported: “Disney officially cut ties with Carano over an image the actress posted to her Instagram depicting a Jewish woman running from Nazi guards with the caption:

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?”

Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro defended Carano on social media and on his podcast, “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and said the actress’s ouster was an example of the “cancel culture” infecting leading U.S. institutions, Daily Wire reported. “Social movements have consequences, and we are now in the middle of a mass social movement to expel half of the American population from the body politic,” Shapiro said. “He added that Carano’s firing, as well as the public backlash ginned up against a number of well-known figures, is not a good faith attempt at accountability, but rather a club to punish people for holding certain opinions.”

Shapiro said Carano will produce and star in an upcoming film for The Daily Wire.

The Hollywood Reporter said: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

Carano has also been dropped as a client by United Talent Agency, and Hasbro announced Monday they were cancelling her Mandalorian action figure.

“It is unfathomable to me that corporations and members of the public would ruin a person’s career, business and family because of their political ideology,” said Sen. Melendez.  “A free society shouldn’t allow thoughts and ideas to be censored. Free speech covers all speech, not just that with which you agree.”

“Senate Bill (SB) 238, known as the Diversity of Thought Act, aims to amend the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) in the Government Code, by adding political affiliation as a protected class under California’s Anti-Discrimination laws.  If enacted, the bill protects California residents from discrimination when seeking employment opportunities or housing, based on political affiliation.”

“Senate Bill (SB) 249 amends the Education Code, including political affiliation, to prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools. The package affirms Californians are supported in their right to open dialogue and diversity of thought.”

“Cancel culture and the efforts to silence differing opinions and voices should be a growing concern for all of us,” said Melendez. “A climate of intolerance has been established and has stifled healthy and normal debate. Anyone who values their own freedom of speech should be concerned. This cannot and should not be allowed to continue.”

It is evident Disney was looking for a reason to cancel Carano. “This is not the first time Carano, who played former Rebel Alliance soldier Cara Dune on The Mandalorian, has been the focus of social media ire for her political comments,” the Hollywood Reporter said. “Last November, she issued contentious tweets, one in which she mocked mask-wearing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and another in which she falsely suggested voter fraud occurred during the 2020 presidential election.”

How dare she.

She was “called out in recent months for posts that promoted COVID conspiracy theories, mocked the idea of sharing pronouns (something her ‘Mandalorian’ costar Pedro Pascal does on his Twitter account) and suggested there was voter fraud in the presidential election,” the San Jose Mercury News reported.

“Falsely suggesting voter fraud occurred” during the 2020 election, COVID conspiracy theories (like it came from Wuhan, China?) and mocking mask wearing is Carano’s real “crime.”

Carano did not adhere to proper Hollywood groupthink, and was cancelled for it. A state Senator should not have to write bills declaring what kind of speech is also “free speech.”

Carano’s “cancellation” even attracted the notice of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “On his Twitter account Cruz wrote, ‘Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked ass & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney canceled her,’” the Mercury News reported.

Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked ass & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney canceled her.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 11, 2021

Sen. Melendez’s bills