Director James Gunn under fire for offensive tweets [Update: Fired]

[Alicia]

This is the future. The internet never forgets. People should know better.

Kids these days are taught say it forget it, write it regret it. The permanence of the internet is/has been/will always now be a huge part of our culture. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, people do act dumb, immature, and as irrational beings... People make bad jokes, put their foot in their mouth and make poor judgements. All you can do is try to take a moment to think before you hit submit online. Your job, personal safety, marriage, and future happiness may be on the line.

(Plus, heroes in the spotlight like athletes, and even those in Hollywood, should be held to a higher standard.)

Sadly, I don't think this a lesson that we as a species will ever really learn.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Complicated thoughts but I’ll leave it at this:

wow

 

[ush.hacker]

One of his tweets was "directed" towards Disney. His career is over.

 

[Miketheboss]

No offense, but did you see his tweets? I couldn't even read most of them, they were that disgusting.

I read like three of them. I wouldn't tweet these things but the guy isn't a school teacher or a pastor. Hollywood is one of the dirtiest places and all they want to do is preach. Behind closed doors, they're all crazy.

Joseph Khan, one of the best music video directors is a nutjob. If you've seen Britney Spears Toxic video, Look What You Made Me Do from Taylor, Imagine Dragons, they are done by him. Joseph Kahn | Director

Many of these celebrities wish death on Trump, call republicans derogative terms, make outlandish statements and its looked over.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I know some people want to defend him, some people want to say those are just jokes.

But i have never ever met anyone that makes jokes like that. ever. not online, not at work. this was the first time I saw those kind of "jokes" being made about kids. some of them are too disturbing to even repeat. some of them are really dark,

I dont even get how most of them are supposed to be funny, the NAMBLA joke..... how is that even a joke? like.... what was the joke on that tweet? was he being sarcastic? i dont get it.

And it is interesting to note that his friend director huston huddleston, someone who would like those jokes and tweet at James, was arrested for CP earlier this year. Im not saying theres a connection or that James is guilty of anything like that.

but the friend that would laugh at those jokes and like them was arrested for something really bad. I don't even think James understood how bad the tweets were when a guy like Hutson was liking them and joking with him

 

[Brian G.]

What a time to be alive. Where now certain jokes are OK to be made depending on if you like the guy or not.

I really do hope the outrage culture comes to an end...

 

[ush.hacker]

Deleted. The tweet is too graphic to post on here

Hollywood is a mess. It always has been. Disney is just trying to clean it up

 

[JungleSkip]

I know some people want to defend him, some people want to say those are just jokes.

But i have never ever met anyone that makes jokes like that. ever. not online, not at work. this was the first time I saw those kind of "jokes" being made about kids. some of them are too disturbing to even repeat. some of them are really dark,

I dont even get how most of them are supposed to be funny, the NAMBLA joke..... how is that even a joke? like.... what was the joke on that tweet? was he being sarcastic? i dont get it.

And it is interesting to note that his friend director huston huddleston, someone who would like those jokes and tweet at James, was arrested for CP earlier this year. Im not saying theres a connection or that James is guilty of anything like that.

but the friend that would laugh at those jokes and like them was arrested for something really bad. I don't even think James understood how bad the tweets were when a guy like Hutson was liking them and joking with him

The jokes happened BEFORE DISNEY HIRED HIM. He apologized for the SIX YEARS AGO too after people dredged them up then. Disney knew what they had. This time they just gave into some of the worst bad-faith actors on social media.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Hollywood is a mess. It always has been. Disney just trying to clean it up

eh.... so both are wrong and said disgusting things? i don't get it. two wrongs dont make a right? whats his point?

 

[Lucky Planet]

The jokes happened BEFORE DISNEY HIRED HIM. He apologized for the SIX YEARS AGO too after people dredged them up then. Disney knew what they had. This time they just gave into some of the worst bad-faith actors on social media.

why not delete them? why did he even keep his twitter account? you would think that with content as toxic as that he would have tried to erase everything, you would think he would stay out of twitter if he really apologized.

I don't know. if these were jokes about anything else I get how people are defending him. but jokes of that kind are just too weird.

 

[Brian G.]

eh.... so both are wrong and said disgusting things? i don't get it. two wrongs dont make a right? whats his point?

One was a joke (in poor taste), the other probably wasn't considered his past history...

 

[ush.hacker]

How did Disney not take this into consideration before hiring him? They mustve known, right?

 

[JungleSkip]

why not delete them? why did he even keep his twitter account? you would think that with content as toxic as that he would have tried to erase everything, you would think he would stay out of twitter if he really apologized.

I don't know. if these were jokes about anything else I get how people are defending him. but jokes of that kind are just too weird.

He directly addressed why he didn't delete them: To show his growth as a person. Deleting them would be trying to erase what happened. He didn't want that. He wanted to show where he was as a person 8-10 years ago, and to show he was not that person any more.

How did Disney not take this into consideration before hiring him? They mustve known, right?

They absolutely knew because these same tweets got complaints in 2012 and Gunn apologized about them then. This is not new information to Disney.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

MC didn’t like what Gunn was saying unrelated then put his own conspiracy theory bend on the tweets. He pushed it to his base to go nuts. This is the same dude who got people worked up enough to go armed to a pizza place.

This isn’t some “as a person or group targeted I’m offended I’ve been trivialized or demeaned”.

 

[Scott W.]

He directly addressed why he didn't delete them: To show his growth as a person. Deleting them would be trying to erase what happened. He didn't want that. He wanted to show where he was as a person 8-10 years ago, and to show he was not that person any more.



They absolutely knew because these same tweets got complaints in 2012 and Gunn apologized about them then. This is not new information to Disney.

He probably wishes that he had deleted them now though. People don’t care about how somebody can change.

As twisted as the tweets were, I don’t think he was a peodophile and this creates a slippery slope about what is and isn’t ok to say.

 

[Lucky Planet]

after the whole Roesanne drama, theres no way Disney couldn't do anything. specially in today's times where everyone is offended by everything

i understand how it seems kind of dumb to fire someone over tweets that are 6 years old, but if Disney didn't take action they would look like hypocrites. (Even if the tweets were that old)

because you could make the argument that if he gets his job back, Rosseane should have hers too, and we can't have that happen. I know her tweet is very recent and his tweets are old as hell,
but the outrage machine is at full force and the last thing Disney wants is bad publicity and boycotts

 

[JungleSkip]

He probably wishes that he had deleted them now though.

I mean, I don't blame him? Especially when he apologized, explained why he wouldn't delete them, and Disney stood by him *six years ago*.

i understand how it seems kind of dumb to fire someone over tweets that are 6 years old, but if Disney didn't take action they would look like hypocrites. (Even if the tweets were that old)

I mean, they stood by him last time these tweets surfaced, so they are being hypocrites.

 

[Alicia]

Trying to reply to this thread while thinking about censorship, hiring and firing based on tweets (and yet not firing people based on actions, that some may say are far worse,) but not being sure how to phrase things so as to not seem like I condone or condemn certain positions has me like...

 

[Magic-Man]

This whole situation is a sh-tshow. No doubt about that. But Gunn should have been fired years ago, not now.

On the bright side, Taika Waititi will probably direct Guardians 3, and they could still use most Gunn's script (see the original Ant-Man). Also, it's possible that Nicole Perlman will come back (she wrote a lot of Guardians 1, but wasn't involved in Guardians 2).

 

[ush.hacker]

Was James Gunn the creator of any of the characters we've seen in the franchise?