Disney Drops Gunn
Finding some of his past online quips not so humorous, Disney has dropped director James Gunn from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The director has been making his feeling about Donald Trump heard via his Twitter account, and it seems in looking through his Twitter history, some inappropriate tweets that joked about pedophilia and rape were found, leading to Gunn’s firing.
Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, said in a statement to CBS News, “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.”
The detectives on this case were researchers at the conservative website Daily Caller – they produced such gems as “I like when little boys touch me in my silly place” and “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!'”. Gunn tweeted these jokes between 2008 and 2011.
On Thursday evening, Gunn quasi-apologized (qualogized?) for the jokes, and also tried to spread the love.
Gunn had shared news in June that he was close to finishing the script for the third installment of Guardians, and he added that this film will “complete the story of the three films”. The premiere is scheduled for 2020, but who will now direct? And will Disney throwaway a mostly finished script from a proven winner?
Share your thoughts below.
More James Gunn coverage on PCB:
Garon ranks the Marvel cinematic universe
Gunn and the Hugo Awards
A former ABC National, Dallas and Atlanta radio personality, Martina O'Boyle is now making movies and covering culture in London, Dublin, and as far in Europe as the cheapie flights will take her, for Pop Culture Beast.