James Gunn Fired From Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Over Old Offensive Tweets

Disney has fired James Gunn from writing and directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 over offensive tweets he made several years ago. As Deadline reports, Disney announced their firing of Gunn in a quick statement following jokes he made from 2009 to 2012 about rape and pedophilia being brought to light.

“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” said Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn in a statement.

Among the tweets in question were some retweets, and others of his own devising:

* “Laughter is the best medicine. That’s why I laugh at people with AIDS.”
* “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’
* “Mary Matthews just told me a story about how a monkey jerked off to completion on a kid on the set of Max Keeble’s Big Move.”

The tweets were brought into the spotlight by several conservative personalities including One America News Network correspondent Jack Posobiec and commentator Mike Cernovich. Gunn has been outspoken in his criticism of President Trump.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1020229342549413890

Gunn addressed the old tweets in a series of posts to his Twitter account on Friday morning, as you can see below:

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1020154776539967489

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1020154777525575682

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1020154778356146177

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1020154779169783808

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1020154780012834816

Following the announcement of his firing, Gunn told EW in a statement, “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.’ Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.”

Gunn was never officially announced to be writing and directing Guardians 3, but he was open on his social media about his work on the script. He also wrote and directed the first two of the MCU films.