The concerns raised about director James Gunn came from an awful place. I said that in my original story, that alt-right douchebag Mike Cernovich was leading this movement to “punish” various celebrities who had said or tweeted questionable or offensive things in the past. James Gunn’s old tweets came back to haunt him, mostly because those old tweets were incredibly disturbing. I felt like both things could be true: Gunn needed to be fired by Disney for those old tweets, AND we can acknowledge that Cernovich is an awful person too. Gunn was fired by Disney, and he won’t be writing or directing the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
In the past weeks, various actors in the Marvel world have come to Gunn’s defense, and I understand the arguments they’re making too, that Disney/Marvel already knew about the tweets, that Gunn had already apologized, and that if you put the offensive old tweets aside, Gunn treated actors and below-the-line workers with respect. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker and a few others all signed an open letter defending Gunn. Pratt and others posted the open letter to their social media:
Some points I’d like to make: as a group, these actors have a lot of power. If they wanted to, they could have forced Marvel’s hand to rehire Gunn by threatening to walk if he wasn’t reinstated. They didn’t do that, which makes me wonder if they were all 100% in agreement. Secondly, I feel like this letter is trying to do too much, make too many defensive arguments. If the argument is “those tweets were awful but in real life, he’s an amazing person,” then just say that. Don’t go on and on about “due process in the court of public opinion.” The court of public opinion is a good thing. It’s why a lot of people refuse to work with Woody Allen now. It’s why thousands of victims of rape, harassment and assault felt like they had a space to come forward and tell their stories and be believed. No one put James Gunn IN JAIL because of public opinion, he just lost a job. And might I say, I still find his tweets to be profoundly disturbing.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Couldn’t believe when I read this. My question is, do people actually make jokes about pedophilia? Is that a normal thing that happens? I can honestly say in my entire 31 years I’ve never heard anyone “joke” about raping kids.
right? I feel like joking about rape is bad enough, but about raping children? who finds that funny?
This! I do not understand how, in any way, shape or form, these sorts of jokes are funny. And same, in all my years I’ve never heard anyone find humor or joke about this.
This, in my estimation, is truly a case of “When someone shows you who they are, believe them” as far as those tweets go.
He may say that they were jokes, but I’m with you, Miss Margo. If I ever in my life heard someone make a “joke” about pedophilia, I’d take that as a demonstration of who they are: someone who thinks it’s funny to abuse children.
It’s not ever funny to abuse children.
In the glorious words of Tami Roman: It wasn’t not funny.
I’ve said this when he was fired and I will say it again (even if it now looks like I’m defending him which I’m not because he’s a douche-canoe, but I’m really not happy with the course the whole discussion about him has taken): James Gunn comes from Troma. He comes from a subculture that delights in shocking and disgusting people and crossing the lines of good taste as often and as fast as they can. You’re not supposed to laugh at child abuse you’re supposed to laugh at the exaggeration and the outrageousness of the statement. Is this puerile and edge-lord-y posturing that’s really not becoming for a man over 25? Yeah, definitely (even though I have seen a lot of female trauma survivors from similar subcultures using much MUCH worse eff-ed up gross-out humour in their lives, some of them to cope.) Anyway, his tweets are not a mental profile of him, he’s being stupid in a subculture that sees these comments in the right context, he’s not actually a paedophile and he’s not condoning child abuse.
Anyone who spends as much time as this guy does thinking about and publicly commenting about child abuse is one disturbed human being.
You guys know that James Gunn was ousted by the same alt-right troll who came up with Pizzagate, right?
This troll, Mike Cernovich, goes through Twitter archives of “leftists” who “support people of colour” that he despises and uses their past tweets to oust them. He is a giant racist, massively sexist, and is a word that rhymes with hazi.
Celebitchy ignoring this key fact undermines all of her arguments. James Gunn was targeted by a hazi.
James Gunn made those posts. The naz* didn’t write them for him or invented them. That’s what you forget. James Gunn DID this.
Gunn is responsible for his own words. Don’t cape for him.
No, the article clearly states the man who “outed” him is an alt-right douche with his own horrible history. It also clearly states that you’re allowed to be disgusted at BOTH men for different reasons. But hey, you keep defending that pedo!
So if a nazi lady accuses a a left wing guy of rape should we believe her or attack the source?
The motivations of Cernovich dont really matter. They only matter in the sense that we wont see him as a good guy doing morally right things. Firing Gunn is good regardless of who started it all.
How does any of that negate the fact Gunn said what he said at the mature age of 41? I get it Cernovich is a POS but a broke clock is right twice a day. Gunn was wrong. I don’t understand the defense of Gunn here.
Nope. Don’t matter. Facts are facts and these words came out his damn mind.
Maybe outing a potential pedophile is a good thing, As a mother of a 4 year old and 13 yr. old, I really don’t care what side the whistle blower is on regarding child rape or even child rape jokes (Imagine our kids hearing us laugh at these kind of jokes, did your parents laugh at these kinds of jokes?)
People keep saying a right wing troll outed Gunn’s tweets, and, so…? All that means is that the troll now needs dealing with too. Until someone can outline all the fine things Gunn has done for PoC causes, or victims of sexual assault and/or paedophilia, or ANY causes commonly targeted by nazis like Cernovich, AND how him not directing GotG 3 negatively impacts and destroys that fine work, past and future – how does reinstating him have any effect on/connection to the dangers Cernovich presents?
These are two seperate issues, and reversing one isn’t dealing with the other. He did tweet those things and however that information reached the public, Disney doesn’t have to reinstate him. It’s hypocrisy, sure, and that sucks (but they’re not alone in that); Disney likely doesn’t want any pedo heat or scrutiny on their company/product – whatever the reasons for that; doesn’t matter if it’s real or “joke”-generated. Gunn isn’t going to jail or even being told he can never make a film again.
Another point I keep seeing made is that he’s a victim (of abuse) himself. That might be true – I’m not saying he wasn’t but that’s also true of many abusers. While the arguement that “jokes” on social media could have been used by Gunn cathartically that’s still speculation and not fact; being a 40+ adult using that as a mechanism over a period of years repeatedly “therapeutically” raises the question of why he wasn’t using actual therapy instead – and, if he was – whether that therapy was working.
In short, no, he doesn’t have to be reinstated.
It does seem weird to be advocating for lesser consequences in this case – just because he’s popular – anyone else making those jokes while working for a specifically child-marketed product at Disney’s level and profit-share would have been fired. He’s a very fortunate individual to have made two installments of the franchise at all given his Troma history. His career will continue just fine. So it’s not even a matter of him being blacklisted out of the entire industry.
It’s also weird to be acting as if no one else can do as good a job at the franchise or better, at best that’s debateable.
Worst case scenario the sequel is lacklustre/disappointing and it’s the last as a result. There are plenty of other cosmic characters in the Marvel universe; the Guardians were outliers.
They’ll probably keep his script – meaning he’ll still get paid – but let someone else get an opportunity to direct – and if they find a new talent there then so much the better.
The moral: obnoxious “jokes” can sometimes get you fired; and alt-right trolls need taking down in general. I get that the cast are loyal but they are just making it awkward for the new person, who I’m pretty sure they’ll be contractually obligated to work with anyway, and might be just as good they’re saying Gunn is.
Yeah, “so?” The greatest media conglomerate (monopoly?), of not just a single country, but the entire world, is marching along to the drums of a neo-nazi, what can possibly be wrong about that.
“anyone else making those jokes while working for a specifically child-marketed product ” Only, he wasn’t. He was working on just about the opposite. You’re basically defending that the entire life and past of a person should be PG13.
You guys have obviously never heard of Frankie Boyle, heh.
Lol no, they haven’t.
Nope. People are so sheltered.
yes. he’s not funny either.
Totally agree!! How in any way would that ever be funny? I think anyone at any job would get fired for something as such, and *especially* from a company like Disney which is geared toward kids/families. I agree with the person who said to believe it when someone shows you who they are.
You’ve never heard of “The Aristocrats”?
It’s completely disgusting, but you shouldn’t see it as a joke to make laugh. He was doing it to be edgy and provocative and make people react, not to make them laugh. So it’s never really funny and people who would resort to that do it just to shock others.
I feel conflicted about this, the court of public opinion can be a wonderful thing (see Harvey Weinstein et al) but there is no doubt that it can miss nuances and is dangerous when it develops a mob like mentality. I feel like there is no solution or right answer to this.
So am I, Mara. In my homecountry, we had cases in the past that the court of public opinion was wrong. But the damage was done for those lives…
His tweets were awful, at least the ones I read. As soon as I read them I thought he was raped as a child.
Do you feel the same way about Roseanne Barr? Should she be forgiven and have her job back?
Please explain what “nuances” there are around paedophilia jokes?
Don’t forget his transphobic jokes. But as per usual people will defend and protect powerful white man no matter what.
There are many examples where the court of public opinion has ruined someone’s life even though they weren’t a horrible person, just someone who screwed up. (Or were misunderstood.)
I’m not saying this is the case here (I don’t know this director or anything about his tweets) but please let’s not forget mob mentality in social media can also cause extreme damage to people who don’t deserve it.
I am disturbed at how the Right has weaponized this sort of thing. People on their side have no conscience and would continue their activities and their lives without hesitation if public outrage didn’t hold their feet to the fire. Witness that true pedophile Moore or that pathetic excuse for a human being in Congress who not only won’t resign for ignoring abuse done under his watch at that college but has the chutzpah to declare his intention to be the next Speaker of the House.
Gunn at least apologized and very sincerely. People are capable of evolution. None of us are the same people that we were ten/twenty/thirty years ago. Some of us learn and improve and SOME as we have witnessed do NOT.
I would place Gunn in the former category.
The Right? Um, it’s been both sides that have used the actions and words of individuals to publicly call people out and demand punishment. I just don’t understand how people are not being equivocal about this: If people are going to be fired because they have done or said terrible things their political leanings really shouldn’t matter.
Likewise, if we are going to reinstate some people and support them because they apologized we better start treating everyone the same. He said what he said. It’s wrong. He was fired. Done.
I agree. People must be allowed to learn and grow from past mistakes. Plus dark humor is always a difficult thing. It can absolutely go too far, but can also be a way to speak about dark truths of the world in a way that’s more palpable to get things out there. Imo, dark humor has a place, it’s just not for everyone. Yet his tweets were so icky and he’s working now for a company that generally makes family films so I can understand the decision. I’m truly torn on this one.
“Grow from past mistakes”
Get real. This guy was in his 40’s and tweeting these things. People are on here acting like he’s some 16 year who didn’t know any better.
You’re not allowed to make certain “mistakes” past a certain age. By the way, how many times does a “mistake” have to occur to not be considered a mistake?
I don’t think you have read his tweets, take a gander and then say again you think public is being unfair
https://goo.gl/images/MqwNYP
No sympathy for this guy. He was in his 40s when he made those “jokes” .
So personal advancement and learning capacity have an expiration date? Which is it? 40? 50? 80? 27?…
The signatures are the only thing thats good about this. What a bunch of bad people.
Mike Cernovich, the inventor of pizzagate, ousted James Gunn as part of his continued attacks on “leftists”. Don’t side with the alt-right trolls!
Disney ousted him. And look who you’re siding with. Have you seen Gunn’s tweets? Revolting stuff.
How am I siding with him? Should we let someone get away with something horrible only because the source has shady motivations?
As long as I am not celebrating the alt right douche for doing that Im not siding with anyone.
If Harvey Weinstein names other abusers I will be glad, doesnt mean I’ll ever “side” with him.
How gross was it that they signed off as actual guardians of the galaxy…get the f*ck over yourselves. And does everybody need a reminder that pizza gate was fake but Gunn’s tweets were very real and verifiable?
Disney hired him knowing all about those disturbing tweets. It only became a problem because Cernovich uncovered them & went after him. None of the actors would have walked away from the 3rd film to get Gunn rehired. Especially not Pratt..he’s particularly disturbed by the Tweets, as is Saldana but at the end of the day they know a different person, the guy who was directing them. I can understand why they are doing this but I’d be surprised they’d rehire Gunn. They would be hypocrites..no?
It would be the EPITOME of hypocrisy. If he gets rehired I want Paula Dean back on FoodNetwork.
Paula Dean? What? She told a joke too?
Paula Deen actually harmed her employees. It wasn’t just talk. Her manager made female employees watch p0rn at work. They made POC work in the back of the restaurant (unless they were “light”, then they could work in the dining room), and they made them work overtime without pay. Her staff’s advancement in the company was related to how light their skin was. Her manager brought p0rn to staff meetings!
Paula Deen harmed her employees, Gunn did not. HUGE difference.
I think there is a lot more to the James Gunn story than the public knows and I say this after reading the statements from his brother Sean Gunn. I suspect that James himself may be a survivor, just my gut feeling, and that those around him know that.
Now, can we put as much pressure on Congress to rid of us of the scum that is Jim Jordan as Cernovich and Shapiro did on Disney to fire Gunn?
You might be on to something there about Gunn being a survivor of child rape & those tweets were how he coped, no matter how sick they were. I didn’t think of that initially.
I agree with you (see my reply to Mara) and I did not read his brother’s statements.
Weirdly enough, Shapiro was against Gunn being fired (something about free speech). It was a Cernovich campaign, apparently.
Not sure if he’s a survivor, but he’s talked about having friends who were victims of a local priest.
I got this impression as well. And he did mention something along the lines of either being a witness to friends abuse or just having direct knowledge of a friend’s abuse.
I had no idea Sean Gunn was his brother! I haven’t read the statement, but this makes a lot of sense to me. I really don’t know what to think on this one. My gut is that those were terrible, inappropriate jokes, but not predatory.
Are you referring to Sean’s statements on Twitter?
I don’t care if he is a survivor. He is an adult who makes predator jokes. He is canceled in my book and the whole cast who sides with him too.
Thank you, Babs. And this guy wasn’t an idiot kid when he wrote them. Y’all really are caping for the wrong person here. My thing is if you are going to support him like this the next person that goes through something similar and ‘apologizes’ y’all better extend that grace to them, too.
Here’s my deal, this is not character assassination. No lies are being told. He MADE the jokes, he wrote the tweets he assassinated his own character. This puts Disney in a hard place, because these actors are contractually obliged to keep working but Disnru produces movies for children, and Gunn’s tweets were just… disgusting. I’m all for people changing, but in the same light is there no punishment? If I made tweets like this, and my job found out I would be fired and no petition could get me hired back. And we have to be fair to everyone, not just people that we like. So if we would fire someone who we didnt like who made disgusting remarks, like Rosanne, the same should be done to Gunn.
By siding with Gunn they are distancing tons of people who have been victims of sexual abuse and saying that they approve of his words, whether they like it or not. Chris Pratt saying “I dont condone is tweets” and in the same breath saying “but he should definitely keep making movies for kids” is condoning the tweets.
I agree. My kids love the GOTG films but if Gunn was kept as director for #3, we wouldn’t watch it. I actually think they’ll cancel the third film all together. The actors are making such a stink about it.
“ I actually think they’ll cancel the third film all together.”
Sorry but that sound you hear is Disney shareholders laughing so hard at you right now. This is a $1.6 billion franchise so far. Part 3 at the absolute most will see a slight delay, but it’s coming. And the actors will do interviews praising the “fresh take” of the new director to high heaven (as contractually obligated) and wishing Gunn the very best in a very difficult situation. Principles only go so far in Hollywood; they drop away around half a billion.
“I think they’ll cancel the third movie altogether.”
You cannot be serious.
Yes, totally, Disney is going to cancel its carefully planned cinematic universe and a sub-franchise worth billions on its own over twitter. What a prediction.
*eyeroll*
They won’t even delay it. They got a new director, revised script, and started filming Ant Man within six weeks of Edgar Wright quitting, they didn’t even miss a beat. They have months to find someone else for GOTG 3, which is comparative luxury.
His job didn’t just find out, though. They knew the whole time (before hiring him) and he had publicly apologized for it.
By siding with Ceranovich, though, you’re throwing yourself in with literal neo hazis. He’s the poster boy of the alt-right and the inventor of pizzagate.
But the tweets pre-date the job. That’s on them for hiring him, at this point. No, he shouldn’t be punished.
True people can’t cheery pick the moral war. But by firing Gunn, Disney indirectly supports the agenda of this alt right guy. It also indirectly sends the message they want alt right money. That may not be the intention, but it came as the result.
I agree!
“This puts Disney in a hard place, because these actors are contractually obliged to keep working but Disnru produces movies for children, and Gunn’s tweets were just… disgusting. ”
My first reaction when this story initially broke was “well for goodness sake, you can’t be working for Disney and making “jokes” like that, what an idiot!” But then I read more, and he was NOT working for Disney when he said those things, and Disney KNEW about those things BEFORE they hired him. Not just, he said them previously and Disney just found out– but Disney actually KNEW before hiring him and paying him millions for 2 GotG movies. I don’t like his gross tweets, and for the most part I agree that Disney should not want to associate with him. But I don’t find it particularly wonderful that they hired him knowing about all that and waited until some asshat made a big stink about it to fire him. Very hypocritical.
He linked to a pedophilia site in one of his tweets. GTFOH with this defense. He was dead wrong and gross and he faced the consequences. Cernovich will get his. He’s knee deep in Russiagate as evidenced Wikileaks’ DM messages that were dumped last night on the internet.
Agreed 100% on all points.
And why can’t there be consequences along with ‘growth’?
Peeps acting like Gunn’s facing jailtime, or cancer.
Speaking of jail, I hope that Huston Huddleston association comes back to bite them in the rear.
YES! Exactly @TheOriginalMia. This isn’t character assassination if its true. Gunn wrote those tweets. He linked to that horrific website and then graphically joked about how much he enjoyed said website. Dude is gross.
I don’t care *who* uncovered these. Wrong and gross is wrong and gross.
You mean that link to a video clip of a children’s choir singing a Divinyls song?
Sorry, but that’s not what happened. You were just manipulated by a sexual predator. Gunn didn’t link or promote any pedophile website (unless you count mentioning NAMBLA as promoting pedophilis too. In that case… I guess Jon Stewart is a pedophile too). Good job taking Mike Cernovich’s word as good faith, though. Definitely no slippery slope THERE.
No. No he did not. It was a link to a music video of a chorus of kids singing “I Touch Myself” by the Divinyls- from an album that is available for sale of a children’s choir singing pop songs. Cernovich black boxed the link to fool people into thinking it was CP.
Good God people fall for anything. Glad you’re so eager to give an admitted rapist what he wants.
Say you’re right about the website. So what? He still made a joke of PEDOPHILIA as if that is something to be joked about. It wasn’t funny. It was disturbing and he was called out on it. As for Cernovich, I said what I said. He will get his. His hands aren’t clean, but you go ahead and cap for a man that thought child rape was something to be joked about.
Gunn publicly acknowledged and apologized years ago. None of this was secret, it was all in the public sphere. Whether or not you personally forgive him is your own choice and I support your right either ways. But none of this is new.
And you keep purposely spreading misinformation, Mia. That way we can spend our efforts on people who have never actually hurt anyone and have changed and improved themselves instead of focusing on actual crimes! I’d rather cap for a man who changed his outlook to be not-shitty and gross than follow the bidding of a man who says date-rape is impossible TODAY.
Cernovich won’t get what’s his, you know why? Because ignorant people will continue to believe whatever he says and clutch their pearls over shit that was dealt with YEARS ago instead of take the non-lazy option and maybe, you know, CHECK on things.
So sorry you took the word of an alt-right rapist. But whatever my opinion on Gunn, the facts are the facts: Cernovich purposely obscured and manipulated the truth and you FELL FOR IT. SO SORRY. And you’re digging your heels in, refusing to acknowledge this, because you prefer feeling right about something to actually taking matters like this seriously.
OF COURSE Gunn didn’t post a link to CP, because guess what? HE WAS A PUBLIC FIGURE BEFORE MARVEL HIRED HIM AND LINKING TO CP IN A PUBLIC SPHERE IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE. GUESS WHAT? GUNN HAS NEVER BEEN INDICTED. IF HE HAD ACTUALLY DONE WHAT YOU’RE CLAIMING, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN. USE SOME COMMON SENSE.
PS: How did you enjoy Deadpool, btw?
Hi @WendyNerd. I appreciate the sarcasm, don’t think I don’t. The all ‘caps’ was also a nice gesture.
But I was referring to the title of the video, which I assume was hosted on a website. Called ‘100 prepubescent girls **uch themselves’ which Gunn linked to on his website.
In response he then posted as to how after viewing the video he: “c*me all over my own face.”
This is gross.
Whoever found it. Gunn himself posted it. Then joked about being a*oused by young girls. Combine that with all the other pedo- jokes (allll the other pedo-jokes) and I would say I was definitely taken in. I was taken in by a Hollywood director who I thought was talented *and* decent. My bad.
So yes, I will accept your congratulations. Thanks!
Hey Elaine? I know what you were referring to! The video was of an all-girls children’s choir singing the Divinyls. I already stated that. The song is literally called “I Touch Myself”. That’s what the clip was. It was not a pedophile site or a pedophilic video. (Fun fact: if it had been, he’d have been brought up on charges years ago for the possession and distribution of child porn! He wasn’t! You know, that point I already made and that you ignored because you were too busy thinking you’re right to accuse people of felonies on the word of a confessed rapist?)
Cernovich knew this, but black boxed the actual link and called it child porn to fool people like you. No one made a point of who posted it. That was never an argument I made. Strawmen are not going to work for you, sorry.
You can hate his jokes all you want (I certainly do), but there’s a difference between that and accusing him of actual felonies. Which, yes, you’re doing. Because you prefer the word of actual sexual predators, and would rather dig your heels in and be manipulated by them than admit that you made a mistake and jumped to conclusions based on bad faith and lies. Which is exactly the slippery slope I’ve been worried about from the beginning. Thank you for proving me right.
Sorry about the all-caps, but the italic tags don’t work for me, so caps are the only way to place emphasis on words. But I have a feeling you knew that, didn’t you?
Oh, and PS? My point has never been that Gunn shouldn’t suffer consequences. Just that those consequences should have been six goddamn years ago BEFORE Marvel gave him the chance to make millions upon millions on directing hit films for them. You know, actually apply the crap they totally knew about in the first place in their hiring choice?
Because guess what, Hon? Gunn is going to be making millions off the first two GotG for the rest of his life regardless of whether or not they rehire him! That will never change! And it never should have been the case! It’s too late for there to be real, lasting consequences! This is just lip service and hypocrisy, sorry to tell you!
The Original Mia, I can’t believe your HUGE mistake was pointed out and you just double down. Be an adult and own the mistake. Correct yourself.
Precisely.
You mean the link to the music video of a kids choir singing an 80s song? James Gunn made some bad tweets but Cernovich and his pals manipulated them to seem even worse and everyone fell for it.
Marvel actors have pretty tight contracts. Publishing this letter without Disney’s consent would be going against their employee decision. I really doubt they would release that letter without Disney agreement. That seems a set up to make Gunn back by “public support”.
You’d be surprised at how much support there is for Gunn to be rehired. A lot of GOTG fans have rallied behind him, plus Hollywood, the actors that worked with him. It makes me wonder what is actually happening @ Disney.
Yeah, I saw that. That’s why I wonder if Disney firing him was just for marketing because they knew the tweets would get a bad reaction and the plan was always to bring him back using the public support. Those actors would not confront Disney with this statement if they knew there were no chances to Gunn getting back. Friends aside, HW is about money and those actors would not risk that fat check behind because of someone that can be replaced. But maybe I’m really into conspiracy theories.
It also makes me think, as I said above, that there is a lot more to Gunn’s story that the actors know but the public doesn’t. Based upon comments his brother Sean made, I think James is a survivor.
I mean, he very well could be a survivor. However, as we know with cycles, he could also be a perpetrator. I’m all for dark humor, but I don’t see survivors of rape or DV making these kinds of jokes publicly without acknowledging their own abuse.
There were several tweets and they were all very disturbing. I was shocked when I read it last night.
@Kanye’s Blonde Hair: Um, you don’t know that. You have no way of knowing that.
Gunn has very publicly discussed the fact that he was a witness to child abuse in his local parish as a kid. He has said this NOT as a defense; it’s something he acknowledged years ago, and the veracity of his claims are easily verifiable based on latter day lawsuits.
Facts matter.
There were NOT “10,000 pedophile jokes” on Gunn’s account … He simply deleted all tweets from a time period (and that number was roughly 10,000). There were, perhaps, a dozen tweets that ranged from the quite gross to simply taken out of context, but all were clearly phrased as jokes. Not jokes I find funny, or in any way condone or defend, but jokes, none-the-less.
There were ZERO links to child porn. There was one link to a children’s choir singing a wildly inappropriate song, which Gunn was clearly pointing out as really off-putting. Yes, he did so in a way which I agree 1000% was disgusting and not even slightly funny, but to pretend that was not his intent you must contort yourself into several illogical knots.
Feel however you feel about Gunn’s firing, but posting falsehoods and then justifying those posts by saying they still feel true to you when pointed out as inaccurate, is a problem that is much larger than Gunn, who is a man who has made a studio almost two billion dollars so will definitely be fine.
In the time of these tweets, Gunn worked for Troma films, which are, from what I understand, basically splatter horror movies with some soft-core stuff thrown in. They are very much NOT family friendly, and the sick jokes fit the persona of a guy making those movies, all of which Disney was aware of well before they hired him. Gunn has since said—long before this recent uproar—that he’s done a good bit of work on himself and talked extensively about apologizing for his former, edgelord attitude.
Personally, I think that if Disney had elected not to hire Gunn at all based on his past work and public persona, that would have made a lot of sense. Firing him for things they already knew AFTER he’d long since apologized AND proven that he can very much make enjoyable, family friendly fare which makes Disney a TON of money due AND for jokes he is not currently, nor at any time during their employment (and he wrote, as well as directed, all the Guardians films), making on behalf of an alt-right attack…That I don’t get. At all.
Given Disney went over Marvel Studio’s heads to fire Gunn, I expect there’s a ton of behind the scenes drama.
That pretty much never happens. Even if the parent company has to put the pressure on, people are almost always fired by the studio they actually work for. That that didn’t happen here, and that combined with the fact it happened so fast, strongly suggests Marvel Studios wasn’t even in on this decision til it was made.
@S Hey, you should stop saying things that are accurate and make sense! It turns you into a pedophile apologist! These pitchforks aren’t going to sharpen themselves!
And yes: I can confirm to you that that is EXACTLY the environment in which Gunn’s early career was reared.
Thank you, S. This is everything I’m feeling about this, but haven’t been able to articulate.
This is a bigger issue than Gunn’s firing, and it’s making me sick.
Word is Marvel is incredibly angry at Disney’s firing of Gunn so I’d guess they’re fine with the actors’ statement: behind the scenes is a mess right now.
The court of public opinion is highly malleable, its very very hard to gain consensus and even harder to see that consensus last. I wouldn’t count Gunn out (hell, I wouldn’t count Allen out). The next few years will be very interesting.
Yeah, Mia4S. Delaying production costs a lot of money. Imagine cancelling the whole movie…
Gunn was basically supposed to be THE guy for the space side of stuff in the Marvel universe.
Yea this reminds me, Marvel hired Gunn, not Disney, but it was Disney that fired him, not Marvel.
I wonder if his firing means no GOTG…
As I mentioned above, $1.6 billion so far and a theme park ride should tell you it will be a cold day in hell before that happens.
No chance there. Of course the movie will still happen.
It looks to me like Disney fired Gunn over Marvel’s heads. The actors rallying for Gunn are all Marvel. It makes sense to try and defend their Studio’s control of their workers and films over the Big Bosses choices, so in the end they’re really defending their territory as they see it.
They also have time to try getting him rehired before production starts. So they’re trying to levy public support to pressure Disney to rehire; only from the speed of Disney’s reaction and the topics of the jokes I’d say he’s not coming back, they don’t want that kind of scrutiny or potential backlash. If it was just Marvel’s decision (and they weren’t owned by Disney), I bet he wouldn’t have been fired.
I don’t need him to come back though. Even outside of his tweets, I think his vision of GotG peaked with the last one. Diminishing returns. I honestly think a new eye on the team would be good for future cosmic Marvel team ups. Gunn was a liability waiting to uncovered. (It’s so “handy” for Disney that’s its almost a bit too convenient, I mean, they went for this guy and not Rian Johnson? How convenient.)
Tbh, it’s not like dude isn’t going to get a check, aren’t most of his friends and family working on GotG3 anyway? He’ll likely still get a script credit – I see Marvel making sure of that – and might even act as a consult. He’s as close to still working on it after being fired as you could be.
To my mind he shouldn’t have been hired: to say his filmography is problematic is being mild. Someone thought they were being slick, and instead they just weren’t being smart. As I said before he should be thankful he finished two at all.
Disney is legit covering their own bases. They’d be dumb to hire him back and store up a longer term backlash if something or someone else comes up later.
The actors will have to get on with the new person, and stop making this extra awkward pretty sure contract breaking would be career and financial suicide.
I’m just surprised Marvel didn’t realise this would happen at some point. I hope both sides can come to an agreement that doesn’t shore up acrimony, though.
Tweets are public statements. Gunn had a right to make these if he wanted to, and he has a right to think they are humorous, even if we don’t. However, it’s clear that many of his statements make light of abusing children. This is disturbing, and we have every right to be shocked and disassociate from him by not going to see his new movies. We have a right to reject people who attempt to normalize sexual abuse via “jokes.” It doesn’t matter whether he was abused himself or not–that is a personal matter for therapy, treatment and lawsuits if necessary. Disney/Marvel is a business, and they canned him because they knew his statements went too far. By signing this letter, these actors end up looking like they care more about Gunn than they care about kids.
They hired him AFTER he made the statements. They didn’t give a crap about those tweets until this week.
I don’t think Gunn should have been fired for two very simple reasons: 1. His “jokes” no matter how distasteful, crass, and disgusting are not illegal. He wasn’t advocating for child rape, he was joking about it. I wouldn’t do it but it’s not a crime and while his “jokes” were crass people joke about rape, underage teens, and a host of other things all of the time; albeit in more socially acceptable ways I guess.
2. And this is the big one for me. Disney knew about the jokes before they hired him. They’ve known for years, he apologized, and he stopped doing it. For them to come back and fire him now years later is just not okay in my opinion. If I were him I’d sue for wrongful termination.
Also when are we going to start punishing people who actual harm women and children and stop trying to get blood from people who write stupid stuff on social media.
Well clearly you are just in favor of pedophilia and want to defend it, to paraphrase the mob here when I said as much last post./s
I agree with you 100% But it seems like nowadays no one wants to think logically. They just let emotions take over and disregard rational thought.
Look, did I find those “jokes” creepy and distasteful? Absolutely. But lets keep it real. Legally he did nothing wrong and he wasn’t targeting anyone specific with hate speech a la Roseanne.
The internet mob mentality scares me.
But this guy works for Disney, for Kids and with Kids; those tweets are completely unacceptable! What if he were a teacher or a Daycare Director or in charge of a World hunger program for children? HE WOULD BE FIRED!
“But this guy works for Disney, for Kids and with Kids; those tweets are completely unacceptable! What if he were a teacher or a Daycare Director or in charge of a World hunger program for children? HE WOULD BE FIRED!”
Or, I don’t know? They could vet people better and maybe he wouldn’t have been hired if they were so concerned.
Johnny Depp works for Disney. He’s a f-cking abusive pos. But you’ll find Disney like many corporations is able to look the other way when they see someone as bankable.
???
Except people get fired all the time for saying stupid shit on social media. Just because it’s not illegal doesn’t mean it’s not grounds for termination.
I understand what you’re saying, but the fact that they hired him AFTER he made the tweets puts a wrench in it. They had already established that, as a company, they were willing to look past those jokes. The guy who had made those jokes publicly was the guy they hired.
I completely agree with you on that. It makes zero sense that those tweets weren’t a problem when he was first hired, but are now. I was making a larger point about legality vs. a company’s policies that can get a person fired.
Ah yes, I dig it.
This is exactly right, and I think point #2 is the big one. They knew and he has already stopped. He has already proven that he’s grown. It was crude, but Disney knew they were hiring a guy who made a bunch of Troma movies.
I am still processing how I feel about all of this, but I tend to agree with your points.
People make mistakes and atone for them.
He has. He has also not physically abused or harmed anyone. There are people working now in HW who have.
#RehireJamesGunn
Someone suggested this on a previous posting last week or so, but I too am all for Taika taking over the third film. He would be the right fit for it after Gunn.
Taika Waititi has his own history of provactive humor so there is no way he will go back into that machine now, when they have proven they will not defend their creatives who are targeted like this. Anyone wishing for/speculating about Taika to come back is just revealing they have seen zero of his work outside Thor Ragnarok.
I am glad Gunn got fired. If they rehire him my opinion of Marvel and Disney will come to a crashing low. The guy’s disgusting. He’s a creep. Doesn’t matter if he was “joking”. If he thinks that kind of thing is funny there’s something wrong with him.
Your opinion of Disney and Marvel should already be in the gutter for reasons wholly unrelated to this. Look into how they treat their workers.
this is beyond dark humor it is sick and vile. and words do matter, we live in a state of rape culture where abuse is normalized and to promote this happening to children? inexcusable. he has free speech not freedom from consequences. shame on these actors. no decency. there are so many talented no name directors in hollywood, give them the job. why do we continue to tolerate awful people like gunn? i’m sick of it. there is something wrong with people who derive so much pleasure from mocking child abuse. its not normal or edgy, its sick.
Kids are off limits, I don’t care who you are. Sick, sick, people.
Once again everybody: if you’re calling for Gunn’s head and enjoyed Deadpool (and I know for a fact that many of you did) YOU ARE A GIANT HYPOCRITE.
https://youtu.be/GjG54u8_wiE
NO KIDDING!
Shhhhh, stop defending pedophilia! /s
I’m torn on this. His tweets are wildly inappropriate and disturbing. Whenever ANYONE posts something like that on social media, they risk losing a current job/losing out on a future job. Don’t post things online that might come back to bite you, period.
But they are from several years ago. I’m not the person I was several years ago. I see Facebook “memories” pop up and while I’ve never written anything inappropriate or that I’m ashamed of, I honestly don’t remember writing them. You could read them to me aloud and I’d never guess I wrote it. So yes, I’m willing to believe he has evolved since then and is a decent guy in person. I understand why they’re sticking up for him.
If Disney wants to fire problematic employees, let’s start with Johnny Depp.
Thank you for your balanced perspective, Case. I struggle with this, also
I have to think that they didn’t walk because they knew that then THEY would be “tried in the court of public opinion,” and they value their jobs over his.
Let this man take responsibility for his own actions. Do I buy he’s not the same guy he was when he made those jokes? Sure. But no one made him make pedophilia jokes for multiple years, he’s in this situation because of his own choices. That being said, he’s a cis white dude in Hollywood, he’ll be fine.
You know that he publicly took responsibility for this years ago, the first time this came around?
….and? What does that have to do with the repercussions he’s facing now? Is saying sorry six years ago supposed to absolve him from facing consequences in the present? Life doesn’t work that way.
No, but he has taken responsibility already, and we’ve already publicly dealt with this and moved on. Shouldn’t we let it go at some point? This is the equivalent bringing up something in a fight that your spouse did years ago before you met and you’d already worked through together — and then deciding you were going to divorce them for it. Did they do it? Sure. Do you have the right to bring it up? Sure. But it’s kind of a sh**ty tactic, and if you were going to dump them for it, you probably should have done it already.
He faced consequences then, too.
I don’t care that he was fired. I think he never should have been hired in the first place (Because you do NOT HIRE THE WRITER OF TROMEO AND JULIET TO MAKE A MOVIE MARKETED TO KIDS YOU IDIOTS). My problem here is a) the raging hypocrisy behind all this and b) the fact that people are so eager to be manipulated by an ACTUAL sexual predator and call a man who, to our knowledge, has never laid a hand on anyone, a sexual predator because he used to have a gross sense of humor and believe the outright lie that he actually linked child porn at one point (he didn’t. because OBVIOUSLY HE DIDN’T. BECAUSE IF HE HAD, HE’D HAVE BEEN THROWN IN PRISON YEARS AGO. But sure, let’s take everything Mike Cernovich says in good faith even though, once again, the man is a CONFESSED RAPIST).
I didn’t read his apology, so I don’t know what he said. I’m pretty sure, though, that he didn’t apologize for exposing the world to his real self, via a public forum.
@tealily Again, what does that have to do with his current situation? You can say we should move on, but it’s not that simple. It wasn’t like Gun made an off the cuff remark once. He did it multiple times over a couple of years. Saying sorry isn’t the basis of moving past something offensive. Mel Gibson was recorded saying the n***er and admitted to beating his girlfriend. That was a while back. Should we all move past that because he lost work(although not really) for a few years??? Uh, no.
All of this back and forth is irrelevant anyways because Gunn will bounce back from this. Loosing one job is not loosing a career.
@Marty: You literally suggested that he needed to take responsibility – which he has already done. Whether or not people choose to accept his apology is a different subject altogether, but if the first step you lay out is “he needs to take rsponsibity” don’t complain when it’s pointed out that he has.
Beating up a spouse is akin to telling jokes now? The seriousness of one of those things got very lightened with that train of thought.
@Marty Saying sorry… and then changing his behavior. What is it that we want from people who have done something wrong if not that? I don’t think it’s right take make a person answer over and over for the same crime until the end of time. It’s not like he’s continuing to send out disgusting tweets.
@theHord I’m assuming you are responding to me because I mentioned arguing with a spouse about something they’d done before you met, but I have no idea where you got “beating up” from.
@bridget Aww look at you trying to gaslight me, cute. Get some reading comprehension skills, girl. Nowhere in my posts did I talk about steps or complain. It’s called and opinion, like the one you had when you felt the need to respond to me. Have a blessed day!
@Charlotte By your own admission, you have no way of knowing this, so why are you making such a definitive statement? (spoiler alert: you’re wrong. He did. YEARS AGO)
Marty says:
July 31, 2018 at 11:07 am
Let this man take responsibility for his own actions.
“Marty says:
July 31, 2018 at 11:07 am
Let this man take responsibility for his own actions.”
@Marty, that was a literal quote. In what way are you being gaslighted right now?
As someone currently embroiled very deeply and personally in the scenes of the #metoo movement, I also think the court of public opinion is a tricky thing. It only works if people are telling the absolute truth. And while I know I am telling the truth, how can other people know that and how can I know that about other people? It’s such a tricky imperfect business. Such a double edged sword.
I find Disney ultra hypocritical. They’re fine firing a guy who made completely terrible jokes but never physically hurt people and is a professional through and through but keep working with an unprofessional and abusive Johnny Depp. If they going the whole moral route, they’re should fire Depp too. While we’re at it, Josh Brolin.
It’s almost like… This is complete bullshit or something. Like Gunn never should have been hired in the first place! And Brolin never should have been hired! And Depp should have been fired a year ago.
Who makes jokes about child rape? On what planet is that ok? Anyone else outside of Hollywood made those jokes they would have been fired in a heartbeat and probably have the cops knocking on their door . And it wasnt one joke, it was many disturbing jokes. But I guess since he makes a movie a bunch of fanboys loved that makes it ok. I guess making pedophilia jokes is now ok as long as it doesnt effect the superhero franchise.
You are very, very sheltered. And no, that’s not me defending his jokes. It’s just me pointing out that it’s way more common than you think. See: Deadpool. Which has an entire meet-cute scene revolving around child gangrape jokes.
Using Deadpool is a poor example for several reasons. One major factor is that it’s a film based on a fictional character in a made up reality. That character has an absurd and radical moment is filtered through a different lens than reality. By extension of that concept it is best to understand that it’s possible to like a movie overall but hate certain moments, Deadpool crossed the line but it is easier to analyze the provocative nature of the humor in that fictional world than in this very real-life situation. Part B to your flawed comparison, Gunn was fired because of his jacked up comments were offensive. A real-life consequence for running his mouth is getting fired. No one is saying he can’t say offensive comments, we are just saying that once you say effed up comments a consequence is that you can lose your job. Roseanne is a trash human being who made horrible comments, following your logic she didn’t deserve to lose her job. I don’t like Gunn’s comments and I don’t like the Neo-Conservative who “exposed” the information. Situations like this aren’t political.
Precisely how does having the opinion that jokes about child rape is wrong doesn’t mean one is sheltered? Deadpool is a scripted movie. His tweets were his own words. Last time I checked, our own words hold a connection to our thoughts as opposed to delivering words in a script, which some are paid to do. Was he reading off of a script? Or better yet, reading a passage from a book that dealt with child rape? I think not. Apples and oranges.
Clementine – so are we going to jump on whoever wrote that part of the script? Based on your logic I assume you think the writers are absolute garbage people, correct?
@Erinn Apparently scripts are nobody’s words, because they… sprout out of cabbages by spontaneous generation.
Scripts are written by writers (just in case you weren’t aware) to spark conversation, foster dialogue and bring light to specific situations. Even the jokes. Making jokes about pedophilia on one’s own personal twitter account is…making jokes about pedophilia on one’s own twitter account. Last time I checked, jokes were told to induce humor. Nothing more. Big difference.
Whether or not Gunn should be re-hired depends on whether or not you think that someone can atone for their transgressions. Forgiveness is never guaranteed, and it’s a personal choice.
If Disney rehires Gunn then a lot of people will be calling them hypocrites because they won’t rehire Roseanne. They both did horrible tweets but…
Disney did the correct thing in firing her and I hope they don’t rehire her. The PR would look bad I fear.
Eh, Roseanne has a continuing pattern for awful statements. Like, continuing out of one side of her mouth while she apologizes for the comments out of the other. This is a guy who said some egregious things years ago, apologized, and hasn’t since.
Roseanne specifically targeted a Black woman, insulted and denigrated her Middle Eastern roots the Muslim religion as well as her race by calling her the offspring of apes. It was a verbal attack using hate speech. She deserved every bit of the backlash and termination.
Valerie Jarrett is more white than black!
Her parents are both of European and African-American descent. On the television series Finding Your Roots, DNA testing indicated that Jarrett is of 49% European, 46% African, and 5% Native American descent. wiki
@Chris So that makes it okay to use hate speech directed at Valerie Jarrett?
Chris, we all know that’s not how race in America works.
Rosanne has 1. never apologized because every time she opens her mouth (if she isn’t yelling) she just makes excuses and blames everyone else. and 2. she continues to behave the same way. The documentation on her is far longer than Gunn, who has at least apologized (more than once it seems) and has since changed his actions.
Disney had the right to fire him. They are a business. Pedophilia jokes are NOT ok and shouldn’t be justified.
It wasnt one little joke he had many jokes about kids. Hollywood is already a cesspool. So the will probably rehire him. Its funny going forward because all these actors that preached about the metoo movement now look like hypocrites. Hollywood has a lot of nasty rumors about kids already.
“There is little due process in the court of public opinion.” True. However, Gunn admits to saying these horrific things posed as jokes. That is a fact. The facts leave people free to interpret his nasty statements. It my opinion these perverse statements pretty much making a fuc*ing joke of pedophilia. There’s absolutely no alternative message. So yeh my opinion along with most of the public’s is that he is a SICKO and shouldn’t be paid by a company that prides itself on making children’s dreams, not nightmares, come true. Clearly Disney feels the same way. And the cast should be ashamed of themselves.
You know, we could be using this as an opportunity to have an intelligent discussion of the limits of provocative humor and artistic and corporate accountability. Instead, everyone prefers to take the word of a sexual predator.
Excellent work, everyone. Good job. You did it. I’m proud of you.
… or stating that beating up a girlfriend and spreading legit racist ideas and acts, is as bad as telling a terrible joke years ago you already apologized for. Ya know, sound perspective.
THIS IS SUCH HEALTHY BEHAVIOR THAT HELPS ACTUAL VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE SO MUCH. AWESOME WORK. GOOD JOB. NO ONE WILL EVER BE MOLESTED AGAIN.
I don’t think friends and spouses should be allowed to publish these types of letters. Of course you think he’s a good dude, he didn’t attach/degrade/whatever you. That’s what you’re still married/friends.
They decry the court of public opinion, but here they are courting it.
Just like the families and friends of people who commit heinous acts… “He was such a good boy. We never suspected a thing.”
It’s like, no shit. They specifically kept secrets from you so you’d like them.
Some of them are even smart enough to do it for that purpose.
I mean there’s a reason doctors aren’t supposed to treat family and friends, etc. It’s to avoid this type of bias, but people somehow think they are above it.
Strange method of keeping secrets — posting said secrets on a public forum.
But whatever, screw logic, these torches won’t light themselves.
I’m not solely talking about Gunn, but sure there, Wendy. I’m pointing out commonalities and trends with other spouses.
You see this with Chapman, Chen, Westwick new girlfriend, casts and crews of far less deserving people.
And it’s all bias, and has nothing to do with the issue at hand. I’m not equating Gunn’s bad taste with pedophilia or saying he should be taken off the project.
I’m saying his popularity should,have no bearing on that. But sure, be snarky because I didn’t approach this exactly like you wanted people to do
Except, these are the people who worked with him, commenting strictly on what sort of a boss/director he was. Saying he treated his cast and crew with respect and kindness. That is highly relevant in a way a mom or wife commenting on her son or husband’s rape allegation is not.
Who should be allowed to comment on what sort of a person Gunn was to work with? People who have never met him?
Yes, because apparently that’s going to stop sexual violence. /s
It’s irrelevant, truly. It’s for the court to decide if it’s a legal case, in this case? Meh. I don’t trust these statements, but I also don’t think Gunn should be removed from the set, thanks for asking.
And Wendy, you aren’t the only DV and SA volunteer here, so calm your tits.
Youve been running around with strawman arguments, putting words in people’s mouths and attacking anyone who doesn’t approach the topic like you want. At the same time bemoaning the lack of civil discourse and discussion.
If you can’t get your point across without attacking other women and being a giant hypocrite you need a break from your volunteering. Your agency isn’t dealing with vicarious trauma like they need to, or you aren’t seeking appropriate self care.
The court of public opinion is a double edged sword, it’s not just used for good (such as denouncing Harvey Weinstein for example). It can be used the wrong way and I can think of multiple examples in which the court of public opinion got it dead wrong. So that is why it is a dangerous weapon, because it can be used the wrong way and can sometimes lead to disastrous results.
In this case, I haven’t read the tweets and since they deal with pedophilia I’ve decided I don’t want to read them. I think James Gunn definitely had to be disciplined. Did he have to be fired? Sure. I have to wonder if Disney was really aware of the tweets, why were they not scrubbed from Gunn’s Twitter when he was hired? Unless there was an archive Cernovich got his hands on somehow.
I will say I confused Sean Gunn with James Gunn (I know they are brothers) and I thought it was the Village Idiot Kirk from Gilmore Girls that initially got fired which really threw me for a loop when the story first came out.
James Gunn had already apologized for the tweets, and they were deleted (Cern and his group dug them up because nothing on the internet is ever really deleted). Given that they were brought up at the time of Gunn’s hiring, I don’t see how Disney could be unaware of them, and at the very least, Disney knew of his history as a shock director with trash house Troma, as well as his purposefully in bad taste movies Super and Slither. They knew who they were hiring and they didn’t care, which is my sole objection to firing him. They had a chance to take a moral stand on the kind of people they would work with and they did not care about Gunn’s history when they hired him. To care about it now is hypocritical and reactionary.
I’ve made rape jokes….but typically in regards to how common it is for women, and I guess as a weird way to try and be honest and yet move forward with a positive attitude even after my own traumatic rape. So I’m ok with people saying shocking things without being offended. BUT, his jokes are not like this. It’s more like he’s leaking his own depraved thoughts. He’s put a lot of thought into child rape, and it’s messed up. I don’t care if hitler’s ghost is the reporting source, if you have terrible behavior or words, there can and should be consequences.
“If they wanted to, they could have forced Marvel’s hand to rehire Gunn by threatening to walk if he wasn’t reinstated. ”
No, they can’t just walk away. I’m surprised you’d say something like that. They have super hard to get out contracts. And I think that the reason why Gunn was fired is not outrageous enough to shoulder the hit on your career for walking away.
That being said, James Gunn shouldn’t have been fired for tweets he made way before he was hired by Disney. If he’d made those comments while under contract, I would understand, but in this case, definitely not. Are they going to fire Robert Downey Jr. for being a creep and a convict ages ago too? Why didn’t they fire Johnny Depp for being abusive?
I’ve been struggling to figure out what I find so unsettling about this whole thing. First off, the fact that a man can at any stage in his adult 40+ year life, articulate such disgusting thoughts and pass them off as jokes around a very disturbing segment of our population that takes pleasure in paedophilia, well it’s just so gross. Secondly, the fact that this existed in the past and now people (actors and the general public) are willing to give him a pass because the past is the past – ummm, no. That doesn’t sit right. It’s impossible to disentangle the fact that these actors livelihoods depend on people like Gunn from the man that Gunn is. Money speaks louder than morals in a lot of instances and this to me screams of that exact situation. I mean, Chris Pratt and Zoey Seldana both have boys… to even fathom the jokes that came from that man and then defend him. It quite literally makes me sick to my stomach.
I’m struggling too. For me, it’s not about being offended by what he said it’s about the man himself. Is he saying what he is thinking? Is he dangerous? Is he a pedophile or thinking about pedophilia or does he condone pedophilia? I’m struggling to understand him and his tweets. I can’t see anything funny or ironic or artistic or whatever in these tweets. I don’t get it. If the tweets are taken “out of context” then what is the context? I want him to provide a better explanation so that I can try to understand what he was thinking.
You know, I don’t take pleasure from people falling down the stairs, but I’ll laugh at it. Even if it’s me doing the falling.
There’s definitely a fundamental misunderstanding around here about what humor is and how it works…
“They didn’t do that, which makes me wonder if they were all 100% in agreement. ”
The only reason they didn’t do that is out of concern for the popularity of the franchise with the fans which may go down if Gunn was reinstated so quickly. As you said, “the court of public opinion”. Nothing else is needed nowadays. I firmly believe though that they all really stand behind him unanimously.
Wow. So much hypocrisy. Wrong is wrong. No matter what your political views are. The yard stick should be same for everyone. Otherwise this vicious cycle would continue giving ammo to the deplorable side. Dark humour is all fine & dandy but shouldn’t there be a limit to the extent of things you can joke about. Also what I really don’t understand about well to do people is that they have all the money in the world to afford the best health care unlike most people.
The grossest thing about this is how easy it is to stir the pot and cause division over something inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. This is straight out of the Russian hijacks America handbook, getting people worked up and outraged over something edgy some dude wrote on his public Twitter account? This moral perfection that is demanded of our public figures is exhausting and not realistic; while we debate what humor is okay and not okay for all of society, I think there are true bad guys out there, getting away with things that are much, much worse.
“If they wanted to, they could have forced Marvel’s hand to rehire Gunn by threatening to walk”
They’re stuck in contracts, so they can’t do that. All they can do is signal that they support Gunn, and as others have said, there are rumors Marvel is not happy and this was probably the public face of a behind the scenes effort to get Gunn back. Whatever you may think of him, the people who actually work with Gunn seem to think he’s a good boss and co-worker, unlike say Johnny Depp who is currently being sued for punching someone on set and is still scheduled to make another Pirates movie with Disney.