Chris Pratt, 'Guardians' Cast Want Director James Gunn Reinstated
Hollywood star Chris Pratt and his co-stars from "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise have released an open letter in support of James Gunn, who was sacked after some old, offensive tweets by the director surfaced.
Los Angeles, Jul 30 (PTI) Hollywood star Chris Pratt and his co-stars from "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise have released an open letter in support of James Gunn, who was sacked after some old, offensive tweets by the director surfaced.
Pratt, who leads the irreverent superhero franchise, shared the letter on Instagram, co-signed by him and Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, and Michael Rooker.
"Although I don't support James Gunn's inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man," Pratt captioned the post.
"I'd personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3. If you please, read the following statement- signed by our entire cast," Pratt added.
In the letter, the cast said they completely back the director, who was fired by Disney on July 20 after his old tweets, where he had joked about rape and pedophilia, were published by a conservative website.
"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, prey, listen, and discuss," the letter read.
"In that time we have been courage 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 who so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories around him."
The members distanced themselves from Gunn's offensive jokes but said working with him has been "a great honour" for them.
"We are not here to defend his jokes of many years ago but rather to share our expreiene 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," the letter further read.
Many in Hollywood have linked the unearthing of old tweets of Gunn, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, to the recent firing of conservative TV star Roseanne Barr, who was sacked from eponymous show for making a racist joke.
The letter also addressed the current political climate in the US and appealed to the public to refrain from being a part of mob mentality.
"There is little due process in the court of public opinion. James is likely not the last doof person to be put on trial. Given the growing political divide in this country, it's safe to say instances of like this will continue, although we hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponising mob mentality," the letter said.
The letter further added, his (James Bond) story is not over, not by a long shot.
Fans have also rallied behind the director as a petition in support of the rehiring the director has amassed over 330,000 signatures on Change.org.
Gunn's brother, Sean, and actor Selma Blair had also come forward in the support of the director. Blair even quit Twitter on Sunday after she used the microblogging site to defend Gunn.
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