Soon after the news came to light that Disney had fired Guardians of the Galaxy franchise writer-director James Gunn after his old offensive tweets on controversial topics such as pedophilia and rape resurfaced last week, a lot of actors have come forward to show their support for the fan-favorite director on social media.
Some of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise members including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, and Michael Rooker took to Twitter to break their silence on the matter.
“’Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.’ JAMES 1:19,” Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt wrote in a tweet on Sunday.
Gamora actress Zoe Saldana stated in her tweet that she loves all members of the Guardians of the Galaxy family and seems to be refraining herself from saying anything towards the matter at present.
“It’s been a challenging weekend I’m not gonna lie,” the actress wrote in a tweet. “I’m pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will.”
Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in GOTG series, responded to the Gunn situation through a tweet that said that people often make mistakes in their lives, but he is very disappointed about what is happening with Gunn.
“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,” Drax tweeted. “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.”
James Gunn’s brother Sean, who plays Kraglin and performs the on-set motion capture for Rocket Raccoon, posted a series of 10 tweets to show his love and support for his brother.
Michael Rooker, who played Peter Quill’s alien father Yondu in both the GOTG movies, also shared his reaction on Twitter. While he did not mention James’ name in his tweet, he did express his wish to quit Twitter. Rooker mentioned in his tweet that he has decided to deactivate his Twitter account.
Not only actors from the film fraternity came forward to support James, even fans have started a fan petition on Change.org calling out Disney to hire the brilliant director again. The petition has already got more than 129, 000 signatures.
Gunn had recently finished penning down his first draft of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The film is slated to begin filming in January in Atlanta for a 2020 release but it doesn’t look like that release date would stick if Gunn isn’t rehired.
Do you think Disney’s decision to fire James Gunn for his old tweets is justified? Let us know your views in the comments below.
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
JAMES 1:19
🙏♥️— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) July 22, 2018
It’s been a challenging weekend I’m not gonna lie. I’m pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will.
— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 22, 2018
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
1/2
Friends and fans… an important announcement from Michael Rooker:
(thread)— MichaelRookerOnline (@RookerOnline) July 22, 2018
2/2
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.Thank you to all who gave kind words & support. See you on Instagram.
– MR pic.twitter.com/uAyIOPoAle— MichaelRookerOnline (@RookerOnline) July 22, 2018
1. I hope it goes without saying that I love and support my brother James. And I'm quite proud of how kind, generous, and compassionate he is with the people in his life, whether they are friends, family, colleagues, fans, or strangers.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
2. Since he was a kid, it was clear he had a desire (maybe destiny) to be an artist, tell stories, find his voice through comics, films, his band. The struggle to find that voice was sometimes clunky, misguided, or downright stupid, and sometimes wonderful, moving, and hilarious.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
3. Since devoting his entire life to the Guardians movies and MCU six years ago, I've seen him channel that voice into his work on those movies and seen him transform from the guy who made up things to shock people.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
4. I saw firsthand as he went from worrying about "softening his edge" for a larger audience to realizing that his "edge" wasn't as useful of a tool as he thought it was. That his gift for storytelling was something better.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
5. I saw that he was more open-hearted than the guy who needed to get a rise out of people by making nasty or offensive jokes (or whatever you choose to call them–I don't think his bluer material was ever his funniest and neither does Mom).
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
6. In many respects this change in my brother was reflected in the change that the Guardians go through. I've heard my brother say many times that when Quill rallies the team with "this is our chance to give a shit"–to care–that it's the pep talk he himself needed to hear.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
7. It's part of what made working on the Guardians movies such a rewarding experience for the cast, myself included. We managed to find ourselves involved in a big-budget superhero movie that was, at its core, deeply personal. That's a gift. And that's why it's good.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
8. This isn't new information, by the way. It's all stuff that James has explained many times in interviews, in more detail and more eloquently. It's not some new spin. It's always been part of the story.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
9. So I guess my hope is that fans continue to watch and appreciate the Guardians movies, not despite the fact that the filmmaker used to be kind of a jackass, but because of it. They are, after all, movies about discovering your best self.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
10. Working on those movies made my brother a better person, and they made me one too. I'm proud of that. Peace.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
Love to every single member of my GOTG family.
— Karen Gillan (@karengillan) July 23, 2018
Source: Various links (check above)
