James Gunn fired from Guardians of the Galaxy franchise over ‘offensive’ old tweets

Director James Gunn has been dropped from Disney’s Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise after a series of “outrageous” and offensive old Twitter jokes were unearthed.
The posts were written between 2008 and 2011, with many of the messages making light of sensitive subjects like rape and paedophilia.
“Expendables is so manly I f**ked the s**t out of the p**sy boy next to me,” he wrote in one tweet, referencing Sylvester Stallone’s all-star action blockbuster.
“The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’,” read another from 2009.
Gunn had apparently failed to clean up his Twitter timeline after shooting to fame writing and directing the first Guardians of the Galaxy superhero blockbuster in 2014, and the messages came back to haunt him this week as online trolls reminded him of his earlier bad behaviour.
The filmmaker, 51, was forced to address the controversy on Thursday night (19Jul18), when he apologised for his immature past.
“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,” he told fans in a series of tweets. “As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”
“It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger,” Gunn continued. “My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over.
“In the past, I have apologized for humor of mine that hurt people. I truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies.”
The director went on to insist the old posts, which have since been deleted, were all just intended as ill-conceived jokes, but the scandal has now cost him his lucrative gig with Marvel, after bosses at parent company Disney cut ties with Gunn on Friday (20Jul18).
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values,” Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn declares in the brief press release, “and we have severed our business relationship with him.”
Gunn had been due to begin production this autumn (18) on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3., which is currently scheduled for release in 2020. It’s not yet clear who will take over from the disgraced director.
Meanwhile, he has also reportedly pulled out of a planned appearance at Comic-Con in San Diego, California on Friday evening, when he had been expected to feature during Sony Pictures’ presentation to promote an upcoming horror film he is producing, reports Deadline.com.