Celebrities React To Controversial James Gunn Firing By Disney

The shocking revelation that Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn had been fired by Disney due to certain offensive tweets posted between 2008 and 2012 is shaking up Hollywood. Those who may not know of this news can check out more information of Gunn’s comments and Disney severing ties here at the Inquisitr. Many famous actors and writers continue to post their reactions to this news via their Twitter account, reports the Independent.

Gunn had joked on social media about subjects such as pedophilia and rape. When these tweets were unearthed recently by a conservative news website, Disney’s response was to call it quits with the 51-year-old filmmaker, Gunn, who was already working on Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Dave Bautista, the actor in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise who plays the part of Drax, has come forward in defense of James Gunn, calling Gunn’s past actions “mistakes,” while speaking out about his perception of the director’s nature and kindness, as well as remarking on the unfairness of this current situation. He alluded to further comment, which certainly fans are awaiting.

I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving,caring,good natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what’s happening to him

— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) July 21, 2018

Chase Mitchel, an actor and well known writer, whose works include The Tonight Show and Nikki and Sara Live, tweeted a remark that Walt Disney himself made offensive comments, perhaps, in essence, bringing to question who and where the lines should be drawn surrounding offensive and controversial statements.

Hey Disney, you know who said worse things than James Gunn? Walt Disney.

— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) July 20, 2018

Others are stepping out and saying that these comments were jokes. Alternative county rock singer Rhett Miller also took to Twitter on James Gunn’s behalf. According to Miller, there may be an argument to be made in regard to the pointless or tasteless nature of the jokes, but that the old tweets are not why he truly believes Gunn was fired. He suggests it is mostly in part to Gunn’s political beliefs.

I’ve known @jamesgunn for a long time and I guarantee that these old tweets were JUST JOKES. You can argue they were bad jokes, or pointless or tasteless or whatever, but they were JUST JOKES. His firing is 100% about his outspoken political beliefs. This is a scary time, y’all.

— Rhett Miller (@rhettmiller) July 21, 2018

Patton Oswalt has tried to highlight one of the commentators who helped to bring down Gunn, as reported by Polygon. As Oswalt points out, Mike Cernovich once ran a Gamer-Gate smear campaign. Oswalt links out to a tweet by Shawn Madden, where Madden shared a screen shot pf one of Cernovich’s own tweets from 2012, when the conservative commentator stated that “date rape does not exist.” According to the comedian and actor, this happens to be one of the “lesser disgusting” tweets from Mike Cernovich.

So, since we're talking about this James Gunn situation. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the totally morally righteous Mike Cernovich: pic.twitter.com/1PDgne2N9n

— Shawn (@shawnxmadden) July 20, 2018

James Gunn has made a public statement surrounding his offensive Twitter posts, one where he claims to take “full responsibility” for the comments.

“My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. 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.”