James Gunn is now trending on Twitter after the Marvel Studios director has been fired from Disney following a series of old tweets resurfacing that joked about rape and pedophilia.
Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn, who Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reports to, released the following statement about Gunn’s dismissal from the company: “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.”
Fans are reacting and commenting on social media, with most in absolute shock.
Regarding why no one knew about the tweets earlier, I believe Disney did know about them as back when Gunn signed on for Guardians of the Galaxy in 2012, his controversial blog posts were criticized, which saw Gunn take down his website and apologize for.
However, with the #metoo movement, James Gunn’s old tweets from 2008-2011 were dug up, which reportedly was a result of Gunn’s constant Twitter attacks on President Trump. Interestingly enough, in one tweet, James Gunn criticized Roseanne Barr for her recent behavior and lauded her removal from the series citing how it could negatively affect Disney.
I’m in shock myself, and I’ll be honest, I haven’t been a fan of Gunn from the beginning (and we’ve butted heads on social media), but it’s still a sad thing to see happen.
James Gunn recently sent in his latest draft of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to Marvel Studios and was set to start filming at the start of next year for its 2020 release date. As of right now, I find it hard to imagine anyone else directing the film, but I’m sure Kevin Feige will work things out. Some fans are already calling on Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi to do the movie, but I would honestly rather have Marvel Studios go a different route and make the Guardians films and characters similar to the 2008 Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning comics that inspired the flick, meaning intelligent science-fiction stories. Gunn was also spearheading the Marvel Cosmic Universe, so just what happens in the future remains to be scene, especially considering that following The Avengers 4, the MCU Phase 4 plans were/are going even more in the cosmic direction.
Our Facebook page and private FB group is currently getting lit up with comments; here are a batch of Twitter reactions:
I’m not sure how I feel about James Gunn: I do believe there should be consequences for what he did, but the selfish fanboy in me is sad that gotg 3 will be under different direction, but I guess that’s negligible.
— zeke (@ZekeAllWeek) July 20, 2018
I’m not defending decade ago James gunn’s sh-tty sense of humor but I will say it’s some bs for Disney to act all shocked now ,as if all this sh-t didnt exist before they ever even hired the man.
— Courtland (@CourtlandIsHere) July 20, 2018
Some people are actually defending the comments made by James Gunn.
What
The
Actual
f–k!!!— You Are Here! (@0bsidianSn0w) July 20, 2018
Wow. Goodbye James Gunn and thanks for the movies. I wonder if I’ll ever be successful enough that someone will trawl through my tweet history looking for something to bury my career with
— Richard S Ford (@Rich4ord) July 20, 2018
Furthermore I will not see any GotG movie not directed by James Gunn. I’ve watched @JamesGunn grow as a person through his writing, I have been taken back to a childhood and been reminded of the best parts of growing up. I am proud to support him.
— J Snyder (@jnodot) July 20, 2018
Well this James Gunn stuff is horrible
— Carl (@CarlosGrisJamon) July 20, 2018
And Patton Oswalt just tried to use Gamergate to defend James Gunn being fired. After seeing that, f–k you Patton Oswalt. You have no idea what Gamergate ever was. Moron.
— Hater of Conga Lines (@bourbonjimbo) July 20, 2018
james gunn got fired? y’all know what this means? NO MORE ABLEISM AND MISOGYNY IN THE GOTG FRANCHISE pic.twitter.com/orNT2wJFvu
— sam (@stvnbcky) July 20, 2018
Disney can’t just hire some jobber off the street. They need to find the right director to capture the vibe of GOTG. Taika Waititi would be my top choice, but think about someone like Jordan Peele as well. You can’t go with a nobody after what James Gunn helped create. pic.twitter.com/6yQ5oHwNI2
— T.M. Powell (@tmpowellmedia) July 20, 2018
Alan Horn’s decision to fire James Gunn for tweeting jokes about rape and pedophilia a long time ago is a travesty. Marvel/Disney knew Gunn had a dark sense of humor when they hired him to direct GOTG. They saw SUPER. They hired him for his “twisted” sensibility. So now what?
— Jeremy Smith (@mrbeaks) July 20, 2018
“James Gunn” #JamesGunn tweets insensitive idiotic tweet and get canned right away!
Kathleen Kennedy and her 2IC ( 2 inch c-ck ) Rian Johnson destroys the #StarWars Fandom and we get crickets from #Disney and BS from Lucasfilm employees!
Can you not see what is wrong here? pic.twitter.com/BLIWRvlpce
— Bruno Bernier (@BrunoBernier1) July 20, 2018
But yeah James Gunn retire bitch
— Bangus Of BL (@IRL_Ojousama) July 20, 2018
it is kinda funny seeing people who cheered the firing of people like Rosanne (who was rightfully fired) upset that James Gunn was fired.. And let’s be clear, Gunn joked about raping kids and he works for the world’s largest family friendly company… it’s not gonna go well
— Jan Arrah (@JanArrah) July 20, 2018
