Actress Selma Blair urged Disney to rehire director James Gunn and claimed he is “one of the good ones” after he was fired from the “Guardians of Galaxy” franchise.
“Marvel: RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN — Sign the Petition! via @Change. Because if people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones,” the 46-year-old actress tweeted Sunday.
She also tweeted a link to an online petition in response to Gunn being fired from the third installment of the Marvel franchise after old tweets resurfaced that appeared homophobic, racist and pro-pedophilia.
At the time of this report, the petition had more than 186,000 signatures.
Actress Selma Blair attends the premiere of FX’s American Crime Story – The People V. O.J. Simpson at Westwood Village Theatre on January 27, 2016 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Marvel: RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/JeVbFZkQLL via @Change. Because if people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones.
— Selma Blair (@SelmaBlair) July 22, 2018
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” a statement from Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn read Friday.
Gunn released a statement shortly after that read, in part:
“Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies.”
Other stars of the popular Marvel movie have broken their silence on the firing, including stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana.
It’s been a challenging weekend I’m not gonna lie. I’m pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will.
— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 22, 2018
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
JAMES 1:19
— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) July 22, 2018
— Pom Klementieff (@PomKlementieff) July 23, 2018