Cast Of "Guardians Of The Galaxy" Defend James Gunn In Open Letter

1 week has passed since Disney fired “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn over some nearly decade-old tweets.

Yesterday, the cast of “Guardians of the Galaxy” including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn (James’s brother), Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, and Michael Rooker – have released a joint open letter asking that James Gunn be reinstated as director of the upcoming 3rd instalment.

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The letter writes, “We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss. In that time, we have been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3 as well as discouraged by those so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding him.”

Disney fired Gunn on 20th July in response to several old tweets from 2008 to 2012 which resurfaced and were boosted by alt-right figureheads like Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec. The tweets made light of taboo subjects like rape, incest, and pedophilia.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1024001055997218817

Shortly before he was fired, Gunn issued an apology stating, “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. 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.”

A petition on Change.org also calls for the franchise to rehire Gunn. As of Monday (30th July 2018), the petition has gathered nearly 350,000 signatures and spawned the hashtag #RehireJamesGunn.