- The main cast of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies released a statement on Monday in support of the director James Gunn.
- Many cast members, including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, have said they would like to see Gunn reinstated for the third “Guardians” movie.
- Gunn was fired this month after offensive tweets from years ago resurfaced online.
On July 20th, Walt Disney Studios issued a surprise announcement that it was firing James Gunn, director of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy and its 2017 sequel. The studio was responding to an unearthed series of off-color jokes he made on Twitter between 2008 and 2012. Those tweets made light of pedophilia and child abuse, leading to online outrage.
The cast of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies released a statement on Monday in support of the director James Gunn, and many cast members, including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, have said they would like to see him rehired.
Disney fired Gunn this month after offensive tweets from years ago resurfaced online. Gunn had addressed and apologized for the tweets in the past, but after conservative personalities led an outpouring of backlash against the director, Disney severed its business relationship with Gunn.
Many have since come to Gunn’s defense, and an online petition calling for Disney to rehire him has over 300,000 signatures. But most of the cast has been careful in fully addressing the situation — until now.
The cast released a statement on Monday in the form of a letter, signed by every member of the main cast of the two “Guardians” movies: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, and Karen Gillan.
The letter said that the actors “fully support” Gunn and that being in the movies “has been a great honor in each of our lives.”
They said that while they didn’t support Gunn’s tweets, “the character he has shown in the wake of his firing is consistent with the man he was every day on set, and his apology, now and from years ago when first addressing these remarks, we believe is from the heart.”
“Each of us looks forward to working with our friend James again in the future,” the letter said.
It continued: “Given the growing political divide in this country, it’s safe to say instances like this will continue, although we hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponizing mob mentality.”
The full letter is below:
While the letter doesn’t explicitly say the cast would support Disney rehiring Gunn, several members — including Pratt, Saldana, and Bautista — have tweeted that they wish to see him reinstated.
Gunn issued an apology on Twitter, stating in part, “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.”
Gunn’s cast on the Guardians films initially responded to the news cautiously or obliquely, if at all. Actor Michael Rooker, who plays alien pirate Yondu Udonta in the first two films, deleted his Twitter account in solidarity, stating on the service: “This account will be inactive after today. We’re very tired & upset over the ongoing BULLSHIT… neither I nor my rep will use Twitter again. Twitter sucks and I want nothing to do with it.”
If you please, read the statement written and signed by The Guardians of the Galaxy cast in support of James Gunn’s reinstatement as director of GOTG Volume 3. pic.twitter.com/TjNA9RF6M8
— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 30, 2018
Dave Bautista, who plays Drax the Destroyer, responded on Twitter with outspoken anger and sarcasm. But today, the cast has issued a collective open letter to Disney, posted to various Twitter and Instagram accounts, expressing their support and calling for Gunn’s reinstatement.
#IStandWithJamesGunn #RehireJamesGunn #WeAreGroot pic.twitter.com/w3uh61hd78
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) July 30, 2018
The open letter, signed by Guardians actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, and Pom Klementieff, in addition to Bautista and Rooker, specifically references “the growing political divide in this country” due to the widespread perception that Gunn was targeted for his outspoken, public stance against Donald Trump. The tweets that got him in trouble were found and publicized by a group of alt-right media personalities, most notably, Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, who had previously used a similar tactic to persuade MSNBC to fire contributor Sam Seder. A few days after firing Seder over a satirical tweet about director Roman Polanski, MSNBC reversed the decision.
Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy collaborators are clearly hoping Disney follows suit. In a recent article about the petition, Variety suggests that Disney’s failure to name a new director for the third movie in the Guardians series — which was scheduled to begin production in early 2019 — might suggest a plan to reinstate Gunn, but no decision is likely to be made until Walt Disney chairman Bob Iger returns from vacation.