James Gunn Issues Statement About ‘Guardians’ Firing: “I Accept” Disney’s Decision

In rather shocking and surprising news today, James Gunn, director of Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” franchise, was fired from the series by Disney when old tweets of poor taste, provocative jokes about pedophilia and rape were discovered online.

READ MORE: James Gunn Fired From ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’ After Controversial Tweets Were Discovered

Before any decision was made, and when the controversy was rapidly metastasizing, Gunn apologized on Twitter but has now released a post-dismissal statement.

“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.”

“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,” he continued. “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.”

Leading the charge to fan the flames of outrage and having Gunn fired was conservative provocateur Mike Cernovich, who has, in the past, insisted date rape didn’t t exist and wrote blog posts with headlines like “When In Doubt, Whip It Out,” in regardless to dates and sexual encounters. Gunn is an outspoken Trump adversary on social media. Ironically, this mess all started when Gunn defended indie filmmaker Mark Duplass, for suggesting Ben Shapiro, conservative pundit, troll, and the Editor-In-Chief of DailyWire was an across-the-aisle voice worth considering. A liberal backlash to Gunn amplified his comments which Cernovich and his followers seized upon.

“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,” said Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, in a statement.

As many have pointed out, there seems to be much inconsistency going over at Disney. Roseanne Barr tweeted actively hateful, racist and Anti-semitic tweets for years and even when pointed out, ABC, owned by Disney did nothing and kept her employed by several months. It’s been reported that ABC was aware for months she was a powder keg liability but hoped it wouldn’t bite them the ass. And then, of course, it did when her racist, islamophobic and Anti-Semitic comments got her fired from ABC’s “Roseanne.”

Even the aforementioned Shapiro said that that firing Gunn was a dangerous precedent on Twitter this afternoon. “I think @JamesGunn is an a–hole, as my exchange with him earlier this week made clear,” the Daily Wire editor-in-chief tweeted on Friday. “I also think that firing him for vile old joke tweets is bad precedent and a mistake. There is no limiting principle to the outrage mob.”

Gunn also apologized for these offensive, poor taste jokes six years ago as well when he first started the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” franchise. “We’re all in the same camp, and I want to do my best to make this world a better place for all of us,” Gunn wrote in a statement at the time provided to GLAAD. “I’m learning all the time.”

Perhaps Disney didn’t pay attention. Even as recent as 2017 in a Buzzfeed profile, the director owned up to his mistakes and called them out himself. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is supposed to shoot in January of 2019, but given Disney now has to hire a new director, not to say what they do about his script, that date could be pushed, though “Ant-Man” recovered fast in 2015 when its original director. Gunn was being groomed to be the de facto Godfather of the “Cosmic” side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even if he didn’t go on to direct additional films post ‘Guardians 3,’ it seemed like he would take on some consigliere role to guide this slice of the cosmos.

Here are a few tweets that I personally feel capture the situation well, including, yes, accountability for Gunn’s old, idiotic jokes.

https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/1020419810390228992

https://twitter.com/adambvary/status/1020420193753825281

So, why was Disney okay with James Gunn's Tweets in 2012 when he apologised but not in 2018 after he'd already made two movies for them?

— Josh Wilding (@Josh_Wilding) July 20, 2018

https://twitter.com/JoshRaby/status/1020425237098369024