If you haven't been paying attention, James Gunn was fired from GOG VOL 3 due to a series of offensive tweets from years ago, some released as far back as 2008. This has been a somewhat hot topic around Hollywood, as it raises some interesting questions. For instance, are you allowed to have a past, especially one that isn't PC or mainstream? If you do, how much should that past be allowed to play into your future? In this age of "nothing is ever deleted", with internet history, screen grabs and mass social media capturing everything we've ever said, are you allowed to say things in your "private life" that go against the grain? And maybe more importantly, why the hell would you put the kind of stuff that Gunn put out into the world out there in the first place? Was Gunn asking for something like this? Should it even matter?
Now that it's been a week and a half or so, the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy have released an open letter in support of Gunn. You can read the letter here, or if you are too lazy to click, it has been transcribed below:
An Open Letter from the Cast of Guardians of the Galaxy
To our fans and friends:
We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss. In that time, we’ve been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3 as well as discouraged by those so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding him.
Being in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies has been a great honor in each of our lives.We cannot let this moment pass without expressing our love, support, and gratitude for James. We are not here to defend his jokes of many years ago but rather to share our experience having spent many years together on set making Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2. 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. In casting each of us to help him tell the story of misfits who find redemption, he changed our lives forever. We believe the theme of redemption has never been more relevant than now.
Each of us looks forward to working with our friend James again in the future. His story isn’t over—not by a long shot.
There is little due process in the court of public opinion. James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial. Given the 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 weaponizing mob mentality.
It is our hope that what has transpired can serve as an example for all of us to realize the enormous responsibility we have to ourselves and to each other regarding the use of our written words when we etch them in digital stone; that we as a society may learn from this experience and in the future will think twice before we decide what we want to express; and in so learning perhaps can harness this capability to help and heal instead of hurting each other. Thank you for taking the time to read our words.
The Guardians of the Galaxy
We'll see what the end result is, but it will be interesting to see what Disney does about this, if anything. With Gunn out of the driver's seat with GOG Vol 3, time will tell if the film makes it's expected 2019 release date.
