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ZOE SALDANA AMONG STARS SUPPORTING JAME GUNN
Guardians of the Galaxy star Zoe Saldana and actor Selma Blair have come forward in support of director James Gunn, who was fired from the Marvel series by Disney (the parent company) after some of his old tweets resurfaced.
Saldana plays Gamora, a part of the Guardians squad. She tweeted: “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.”
Blair, a friend of the sacked filmmaker, shared the link of a petition asking Disney rehire him. She wrote: “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.”
Actor Chris Pratt, who plays the Guardians’ leader Star Lord/ Peter Quill, had evaded questions related to Gunn during a Q&A session at the recent San Diego ComicCon. But then he tweeted a Bible verse, with prayer hands and heart emojis. He posted: “‘Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.’ JAMES 1:19.”
The film director’s brother, Sean Gunn, who stars as Kraglin in the Guardians franchise, came to his defence. Sean’s social media appeal said: “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.”
Dave Bautista aka Drax, who was the first one from the Guardians team to come to the director’s defence, claimed that the unearthing of Gunn’s old tweets was a “cyber attack”. He posted: “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.”
In the old tweets, the 51year-old director cracked crude jokes on paedophilia and rape. Screenshots of those tweets, which ranged from 2009 through 2012, were shared by a website, The Daily Caller.
According to Metro.co.uk, one tweet said: “I like when little boys touch me in my silly place.” Another read: “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like, ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’”
After being fired, Gunn issued a statement where he “regretted” the tweets and stressed that “they don’t reflect the person I am today”.
The petition, titled ‘REHIRE JAMES GUNN’ on Change.org has gained over 240,000 signatures at the time of going to press.