It’s been over a week since James Gunn was fired as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 after historic offensive joke tweets were dug up on the filmmaker’s Twitter account. The firing not only surprised MCU fans the world over, but has seen some fans campaign to have Gunn reinstated. Now the film’s cast has shared a joint statement in support of Gunn, titled ‘An Open Letter from the Cast of “Guardians of the Galaxy”’, which joins the calls for him to be brought back to the project.
“We’ve been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3 as well as discouraged by those so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories surround him,” a segment of the statement reads. It later continues: “We believe the theme of redemption [from the Guardians movies] has never been more relevant than now.”
The letter has been signed by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, and Michael Rooker. Read the full statement here:
The Change.org petition titled 'Re-Hire James Gunn' has currently received over 330,000 signatures online.
After being removed from Guardians 3, Gunn issued a statement saying: “My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.
"Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all."
Prior to his removal from the film, Gunn had shared an image of the Guardians 3 script confirming that he’d finished the screenplay. The film, though not officially announced by Marvel Studios, was originally thought to be heading for a 2020 release in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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