'Guardians of the Galaxy' Director Fired
by EG
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has been fired from the franchise's upcoming sequel over offensive tweets from years ago. Gunn is an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, and conservative media made a concerted push to resurface the tweets last week. That was enough to prompt Disney to fire Gunn. Read on for details.
James Gunn is exiting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The move comes after conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets Thursday in which the filmmaker joked about controversial topics such as pedophilia and rape. Gunn has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.
"The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him," Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement Friday.
On Thursday, Gunn tweeted in response to the tweets being resurfaced, "Many people who have followed my career know, when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I've developed as a person, so has my work and my humor."
He added: "It's not to say I'm better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it's shocking and trying to get a reaction are over."
5. Anyway, that’s the completely honest truth: I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don’t anymore. I don’t blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today. Love you to you all.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
The offensive tweets came to light after conservative website The Daily Caller dug up the social media posts, which were mostly posted in 2008 and 2009. Soon after, conservative personalities were tweeting to followers to confront Gunn at Comic-Con. Gunn had been expected to be at Sony's presentation on Friday. Insiders say Gunn is not expected to be part of the panel now.
Gunn issued a statement on Friday afternoon, saying that he "regretted" the tweets in question and stressed that "they don't reflect the person I am today."
"My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative," his statement read. "I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time."
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Do you think James Gunn should have been fired? Let us know in the comments below.