Upon learning that he had been booted from the much-hyped trilogy, Gunn issued a statement, emphasizing that he has accepted the “business decisions taken today” and took “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,” the statement read.
As the House of Mouse followed through with sacking the filmmaker, social media users seemed to be divided on the matter. Some defended Gunn, stressing that the tweets in question dated between 2008 and 2011, and that the director had apologized for his insensitive remarks in the past.
Some tried to draw parallels between the Gunn case and an incident that happened with Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr., who’s playing Iron Man in the Marvel universe, years ago:
Actor Dave Bautista, who is known for the role of Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, also took to Twitter to support Gunn:
In the meantime, plenty of users spoke out against him, saying that they couldn’t ignore the statements that Gunn had made about rape and pedophilia:
While it remains unclear who will replace Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, users have suggested that it be Taika Waititi, who directed the Marvel movie “Thor: Ragnarok”:
Before being fired, Gunn faced massive backlash on social media and beyond, emphasizing his explanation and apology in a Twitter thread:
Disney sacked Gunn after a series of his tweets, some dating back nearly a decade, resurfaced on social media. In those tweets, Gunn made controversial jokes about pedophilia and child molestation.
“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,” Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn said in a statement.
Gunn has been writing the script for the third movie of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the previous two iterations of which have been huge box office hits for Disney and Marvel. The first movie made more than $773 million worldwide, while the second garnered $863 million.