On the contentious issue of James Gunn’s firing from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, Twitter remains the medium of choice for many a passionate fan, critic, and celebrity wishing to join in on the debate. It’s here that the cast of the sci-fi series chose to express their sympathy for the director in the past couple of weeks, albeit usually in reserved and somewhat ambiguous forms – Dave Bautista being the biggest exception. And now that the gang have released a joint statement to explain their united support for Gunn, it’s also via Twitter that the director’s various defenders and detractors are condoning and condemning this open letter.
In response to the statement signed by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and seven other actors involved in the Guardians movies, the filmmaker’s sympathizers have posted tweets echoing the cast’s sentiments that Gunn has matured and redeemed himself in the years since making the incendiary jokes that cost him his job.
It happened nearly a decade ago, he apologized then, and again now. He's shown that he has changed an is no longer the same person who would do that kind of thing.
What more do you want from him? Do you stand by everything you said a decade ago?
— Just Erin 🍷🦄 (@ErinBode) July 30, 2018
Pedophilia is unacceptable. But he hasnt actually committed pedophilia. Simply made a few horrible tasteless jokes
They arent okay, but the fact that he hasnt done anything like that in 7 Years,while also apologizing, and proving that he has changed counts for something
— Benjamin Elzey #RehireJamesGunn (@NathanielTalon) July 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/Hiken0011/status/1023976832264155136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/JasonBouchard88/status/1023975961765666816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
At the same time, plenty of tweets have argued that Gunn’s shocking statements are beyond redemption, and that Disney’s decision to drop him was fully justified.
https://twitter.com/HelenaHolten/status/1023974651163234304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/wonderbruno/status/1023972875676594176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Reminder James Gunn has over 10,000 deleted tweets and none of them are simply “jokes”. He made racist sexist and pedophilic comments. OVER 10,000. his age isn’t an excuse as he’s a 40 year old man when he made them. He’s a disgusting pedophile and deserves more then what he got
— V misses shin hati (@TargaryenHalsey) July 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/pantheranium/status/1023982805842190339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, the Change.org petition to reinstate Gunn is nearing the 350,000 mark. Whether or not this backlash will do anything to change Disney’s mind remains to be seen, but however things turn out, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is already on course to being one of the most controversial blockbusters of 2020.
