Last week Hollywood was shocked by the firing of James Gunn for offensive tweets he posted years ago.
Now there is a Change.org petition to rehire the Guardians of the Galaxy director for the third film of the comic book franchise.
Since its launch over the weekend, the petition has collected more than 200K signatures and counting.
The petition gained attention after being shared by Selma Blair, Dave Bautista, and director Joe Carnahan on social media, urging Disney to “realise the mistake they made and not do it again in the future.”
“If people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones,” Blair wrote.
Bautista defended Gunn saying the resurfaced tweets were results of a “cyber Nazi attack.” “What will you do when the #cybernazis attack you? Who will stand by you? Who will cowardly distance themselves from you? Who will punish you for horrible JOKES in the past instead of defending you for INSPIRING millions? MILLIONS!!!,” he wrote.
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
The filmmaker was fired on Friday after a series of decade-old tweets were resurfaced that made fun of offensive topics, such as rape and paedophilia.
“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.
Gunn issued an apology on Friday, writing, “In the past, I have apologised for humour of mine that hurt people. I truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies. For the record, when I made these shocking jokes, I wasn’t living them out. I know this is a weird statement to make, and seems obvious, but, still, here I am, saying it.”
Do you think James Gunn should return as director of Guardians of the Galaxy 3? Comment below!
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