Guardians of the Galaxy star Zoe Saldana and actor Selma Blair have come forward in support of James Gunn, who was fired from the Marvel threequel after a series of old offensive tweets made by the director resurfaced on social media.
Saldana, who plays Gamora in the MCU, took to Twitter and without mentioning Gunn simply stated that loves "ALL members of GOTG family".
"It's been a challenging weekend I'm not gonna lie. I'm pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will," she wrote.
It’s been a challenging weekend I’m not gonna lie. I’m pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will.
— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 22, 2018
Blair, who is friend of the sacked filmmaker, shared the link to the online petition asking Walt Disney Co to rehire him.
"Because 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," she wrote.
Marvel: RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/JeVbFZkQLL via @Change. Because 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.
— Selma Blair (@SelmaBlair) July 22, 2018
Star Lord/ Peter Quill actor Chris Pratt, who evaded questions related to Gunn during a Q&A session round for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part at San Diego Comic-Con initially, shared a cryptic message on Twitter with a Bible verse, the prayer hands and heart emojis.
"'Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.' JAMES 1:19," Pratt tweeted.
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
JAMES 1:19
— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) July 22, 2018
Gunn's brother, Sean, who stars as Kraglin in the Guardians franchise, came to his defense, urging fans to still "appreciate" the films despite his director brother formerly being "kind of a jacka**".
"So I guess my hope is that fans continue to watch and appreciate the Guardians movies, not despite the fact that the filmmaker used to be kind of a jacka**, but because of it. They are, after all, movies about discovering your best self. Working on those movies made my brother a better person, and they made me one too. I'm proud of that. Peace," Gunn wrote in a lengthy post on social media.
1. I hope it goes without saying that I love and support my brother James. And I'm quite proud of how kind, generous, and compassionate he is with the people in his life, whether they are friends, family, colleagues, fans, or strangers.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
2. Since he was a kid, it was clear he had a desire (maybe destiny) to be an artist, tell stories, find his voice through comics, films, his band. The struggle to find that voice was sometimes clunky, misguided, or downright stupid, and sometimes wonderful, moving, and hilarious.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
3. Since devoting his entire life to the Guardians movies and MCU six years ago, I've seen him channel that voice into his work on those movies and seen him transform from the guy who made up things to shock people.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
4. I saw firsthand as he went from worrying about "softening his edge" for a larger audience to realizing that his "edge" wasn't as useful of a tool as he thought it was. That his gift for storytelling was something better.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
5. I saw that he was more open-hearted than the guy who needed to get a rise out of people by making nasty or offensive jokes (or whatever you choose to call them--I don't think his bluer material was ever his funniest and neither does Mom).
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
6. In many respects this change in my brother was reflected in the change that the Guardians go through. I've heard my brother say many times that when Quill rallies the team with "this is our chance to give a shit"--to care--that it's the pep talk he himself needed to hear.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
7. It's part of what made working on the Guardians movies such a rewarding experience for the cast, myself included. We managed to find ourselves involved in a big-budget superhero movie that was, at its core, deeply personal. That's a gift. And that's why it's good.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
8. This isn't new information, by the way. It's all stuff that James has explained many times in interviews, in more detail and more eloquently. It's not some new spin. It's always been part of the story.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
9. So I guess my hope is that fans continue to watch and appreciate the Guardians movies, not despite the fact that the filmmaker used to be kind of a jackass, but because of it. They are, after all, movies about discovering your best self.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
10. Working on those movies made my brother a better person, and they made me one too. I'm proud of that. Peace.
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 21, 2018
Dave Bautista, who was the first one from the Guardians team to come to the director's defence, claimed the unearthing of Gunn's old tweets was a "cyber attack".
"What happened here is so much bigger then G3, @JamesGunn, myself, @Disney etc. This was a #cybernazi attack that succeeded. Unless we start to unite together against this crap, whether people are offended are not! ... It's going to get much worse. And it can happen to anyone," Bautista wrote.
In the old tweets, screenshots of which are available online, the 51-year-old director cracked crude jokes dealing with paedophilia and rape. The screenshots of Gunn's tweets, which ranged from 2009 through 2012, were shared by a conservative website The Daily Caller.
After being fired, the filmmaker also issued a statement where he "regretted" the tweets and stressed that "they don't reflect the person I am today".
Gunn was in the middle of writing the script for the third film, which was scheduled to begin shooting in Atlanta in the fall for a 2020 release date.
The petition, titled 'RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN' on website change.org was started by a Chandler Edwards, has gained over 140,000 signatures in Gunn's support.
