Dave Bautista Says James Gunn’s Firing Was A Personal And Political Attack

Barely a week goes by these days without the wrath of cancel culture being turned on a high profile public figure, and it’s gotten to the stage now where anyone who finds themselves targeted simply hides in the hopes that things will eventually blow over, or comes out with all guns blazing to try and turn the tide of opinion.

We’ve seen Gina Carano blast her detractors on numerous occasions since being dropped from The Mandalorian, while Sylvester Stallone was forced to explain that his attempted cancellation was based on a story that wasn’t even true. Gal Gadot, meanwhile, is the latest to come under fire after facing backlash for a tweet on the Gaza crisis that would have you thinking she was out there on the front lines herself given the insults and vitriol being thrown in her direction, which generally tend to bring up her past as a member of the Israeli Defense Force while omitting the fact that it was mandatory national service that had her teaching gymnastics and calisthenics as a fitness instructor.

Of course, one of the first initial casualties of cancel culture was James Gunn, who was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after controversial social media posts from his past resurfaced and went viral. Disney ultimately reversed their decision and rehired him following the threat of a full-scale mutiny by the cast and crew, and in a new interview, Dave Bautista stated his belief that it was a personal and political attack.

“At the time, it was awful. I got beat up and I got bashed and I got threatened. I was in a bad spot with Disney as well, but I just felt like I was doing the right thing. I felt like a friend, a guy who really went out on a limb for me and kind of changed my life, was being unfairly attacked. He was unfairly attacked and then he was unfairly punished. I just couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t say anything, but at the time it was awful. It was awful.

I literally stayed on social media at that time even though I was just getting bashed and beaten up, I stayed on it because I knew if nobody was speaking up for him, there was just no chance. This was part of the political climate, things that were going on. It was just like even much bigger than James, this was like a big message they were sending. This was a personal, political attack on James Gunn.”

You can’t help but admire both Dave Bautista‘s staunch defense of his close friend and collaborator, as well as his no f*cks given attitude when it comes to repeatedly criticizing the all-powerful Disney machine, but at least Gunn is back and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 kicks off production later this year.