The cast of the Guardians Of The Galaxy film series has signed an open letter supporting fired director James Gunn, nearly a fortnight after Marvel Studios‘ parent company Disney fired him for an old series of tweets in which he joked about paedophilia.
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Series stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Pom Klementieff, and Gunn’s brother Sean Gunn all put their signatures to the joint statement.
“We fully support James Gunn,” the statement reads.
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’ve 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.
Those “outlandish conspiracy theories” refer to alt-right agitator and media figure Mike Cernovich, who first alerted his followers to the years-old tweets.
The statement goes on to affirm Gunn’s character and reiterate that the jokes did not portray genuine depravity from the director.
“In casting each of us to tell the story of misfits who find redemption, he changed our lives forever,” the statement reads.
“We believe the theme of redemption has never been more relevant now.”
While the joint statement doesn’t directly call for Gunn to be welcomed back to the series, Pratt went ahead and said as much anyway.
“Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. I’d personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3,” Pratt added on Instagram.
You can read the full statement below:
