Hollywood stars come out in support of sacked director
A HOLLYWOOD director who was fired by Disney for a series of offensive tweets sent a decade ago should be reinstated, his cast have said.
James Gunn was removed from franchise Guardians of the Galaxy last week, after the publication of tweets in which he joked about paedophilia, Aids, September 11 and the Holocaust.
The 51-year-old director apologised for the tweets, saying that his “words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative”.
Disney, however, saw his behaviour as unacceptable and removed him from the third instalment, which was due to begin filming next year.
Yesterday, stars of the film – Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and others – issued a statement calling for Gunn to be returned to the film. “We fully support James Gunn,” they said. “There is little due process in the court of public opinion,” the statement said.
“We hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponising mob mentality.”