The main cast members of Guardians of the Galaxy have issued an open
letter in support of ousted director James Gunn, who was fired earlier
this month after jokes he made on Twitter years ago were uncovered.
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper and six other cast members said
they were not defending Gunn's jokes about rape and paedophilia, but
wished to speak about his upstanding character on set and denounce what
they see as a politically motivated "character assassination".
The Walt Disney Company fired Gunn from directing the third instalment
10 days ago after the tweets, which Gunn later deleted, were shared by
alt-right agitator Mike Cernovich, who is known for promoting conspiracy
theories like Pizzagate.
"We fully support James Gunn," the letter, which is also signed by cast
members Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom
Klementieff and Michael Rooker, says.
"We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have
intentionally waited these 10 days to respond in order to think, pray,
listen and discuss."
The signatories said they were not trying to defend Gunn's comments, but
to share their experience of having worked with him on the first two
instalments of the series.
"The character he has shown in the wake of his firing is consistent with
the man he was every day on set, and his apology, now and from years
ago when first addressing these remarks, we believe is from the heart, a
heart we all know, trust and love," they said.
Cernovich had kicked off the original outrage, sharing Gunn's old tweets
and writing that they were "everything wrong with Hollywood".
Days later the director was fired, with Walt Disney Studios chairman
Alan Horn saying the tweets were "indefensible and inconsistent with our
studio's values".
Gunn subsequently apologised for the comments and denied having ever engaged in the behaviour mentioned in the tweets.
"My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and
unfortunate efforts to be provocative," Gunn said in a statement.
"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."
The cast members who signed the letter appeared to call out Cernovich
for his role in what they called a "character assassination".
Gunn's current Twitter account is heavy on left-leaning politics, and he frequently spars with right-wing personalities.
"There is little due process in the court of public opinion," they wrote.
"James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial.
"Given the growing political divide in this country, it's safe to say
instances like this will continue, although we hope Americans from
across the political spectrum can ease up on the character
assassinations and stop weaponising mob mentality."
Gunn has been writer and director of the Guardians of the Galaxy
franchise from the start, taking an obscure Marvel Comics title about a
group of multicoloured misfits and turning it into a space opera decked
with comedy and retro music that made Pratt a major movie star.
Through two instalments the franchise has brought in more than $1.5 billion in global box office.
The cast say they look forward to working with Gunn in the future.
The controversy comes in the wake of the high-profile cancelling of
Roseanne after its star Roseanne Barr tweeted racist comments about a
former Obama adviser.
After the Gunn story broke, Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian
Johnson said he went through his timeline and deleted 20,000 old tweets
out of caution.
"If trolls scrutinising it for ammunition is the new normal, this seems like a 'why not' move."
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/32900
Post Top Ad
Jul 31, 2018

Home
Entertainment
Guardians of the Galaxy stars want James Gunn reinstated as director, call out 'character assassination'
Guardians of the Galaxy stars want James Gunn reinstated as director, call out 'character assassination'
Tags
# Entertainment
Share This
About Chidinma C Amadi
Entertainment
Labels:
Entertainment
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment