Thousands of fans have signed an online petition for Disney to rehire director James Gunn following his immediate sacking from the third Guardians of the Galaxy film.
[jwplayer wdPM27I5]
The 51-year-old was fired after a series of seriously disturbing tweets from 2008 to 2011 resurfaced online showing the director making multiple jokes about rape and paedophilia.
The petition currently has about 36,000 signatures of its 50,000 goal and has been shared widely by fans and colleagues including The Grey director Joe Carnahan.
https://twitter.com/carnojoe/status/1020730445233774592
Petition creator, Chandler Edwards, wrote he’s “smart enough to know this most likely won’t change anything but hopefully, this could get Disney to realise the mistake they made and not do it again in the future.”
Following his dismissal, Gunn said in a statement to Variety he had accepted the “business decision taken” and offered his “sincere and heartfelt regret” for the tweets. Gunn also posted a five-part apology to his Twitter account.
Yesterday, Drax actor Dave Bautista tweeted he was “NOT ok with what’s happening” to Gunn and defended his director’s character.
Today, Gunn’s brother Sean who plays Kraglin in the franchise,also defended his brother writing:
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. Since devoting his entire life to the Guardians movies and MCU six years ago, I’ve seen him channel that voice into his work and seen him transform from the guy who made up things to shock people.
You can read the full post, below:
Despite the push-back, Disney’s decision is most likely final and many fans have already called for Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to replace Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The film is due in cinemas 2020 with Disney yet to announce a replacement director.
https://twitter.com/Winniemaelitho1/status/1020367097262739456
