James Gunn 'unlikely' to be re-hired by Disney as Guardians of the Galaxy director
The news comes despite his cast writing an open letter in full support of his reinstatement
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Your support makes all the difference.James Gunn is unlikely to be re-hired by Disney as Guardians of the Galaxy director despite huge blow-back from Hollywood, a report claims.
According to Variety, the filmmaker - who was fired for offensive tweets he posted up to a decade ago - won't be returning for the third instalment of the Marvel franchise he made so successful despite his cast writing an open letter in favour of his reinstatement.
Walt Disney Studios has faced a huge backlash in the wake of its decision to let Gunn go after an alt-right site unearthed controversial tweets he made joking about paedophilia and rape. Gunn has long been critical of Donald Trump.
Bosses announced they had - somewhat hypocritically - “severed” its ties with Gunn as his comments were “indefensible and inconsistent” with its values.
“I don’t see Disney re-hiring him,” one source told Variety. “Those tweets were so horrible and Disney has a different standard than other studios.”
Gunn previously apologised for the ill-judged tweets ahead of his employment by Disney for the first Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2012. Despite this, Disney claims it had no idea they existed and only learned about them when they recirculated.
His Guardians cast, including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, pledged their “full support” of Gunn, but Disney is said to be standing its ground.
There has been no word on who could replace Gunn, though many are calling upon Disney to hire a female director in his place.
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