guardians of the galaxy 3, james gunn
Image via Marvel

James Gunn Fired From ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’ (UPDATED)

In a shocking turn events, James Gunn has been fired from the upcoming ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘. The news (via THR) comes after conservative twitter users unearthed some old tweets form the filmmaker, which joked about naturally controversial topics such as pedophelia and rape. Gunn has is one of the many celebrity personalities that has been extremely vocal about his distaste of Donald Trump on the social media platform, so it remains to be seen if this was some sort of coordinated attack by conservative trolls as the THR article suggests.

Regardless of this, Gunn tweeted in response to the old information surfacing yesterday, before eventually deleting his twitter account altogether:

[quote]”Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”[/quote]

In a statement released by Disney after this information made the social media rounds, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said this in a statement on Friday:

[quote]”The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,”[/quote]

Considering that Gunn is the main creative force behind the guardians movies, it will be interesting to see what Marvel decides to do with the property. While the director had apparently already finished the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘ script with a Fall 2018 start date for production penned in, bringing another director and screenwriter will probably be necessary at this point. This news has the potential to shake-up the MCU in massive ways moving forward, but time will tell as Disney decides what to do moving forward.

[UPDATE #1]: Deadline has just published a new apology from the filmmaker. Read the full statement in it’s entirety below:

“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.”

Make sure to stay tuned as the story Further develops.

guardians of the galaxy vol.2
Image via Marvel Studios

 

About Taylor Salan

Taylor Salan is a independent filmmaker who currently resides in the San Fernando Valley. Since childhood, Taylor Salan had a fascination with movies. Although he was an avid fan of film as a child, it wasn’t until his years as a young adult that his passion for the art of filmmaking truly came to fruition. A current student of the film production program at California State University Northridge, Taylor studies Cinematography but ultimately has plans to direct full time if afforded the opportunity. In his spare time, Taylor produces audio podcasts and blogs about film for ageofthenerd.com. He is also a longtime musician, playing drums for over 8 years.

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