Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, and Michael Rooker all signed an open letter supporting James Gunn.
Pratt shared the letter to his Instagram adding, “Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. 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.”
The letter reads:
To our fans and friends:
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, pray, listen, and discuss. In that time, we’ve been encouraged 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 so easily duped into believing the outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding him.
Being in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies has been a great honor in each of our lives. We cannot let this moment pass without expressing our love, support, and gratitude for James. We are not here to defend his jokes of many years ago but rather to share our experience 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. In casting each of us to help him tell the story of misfits who find redemption, he changed our lives forever. We believe the theme of redemption has never been more relevant than now.
Each of us looks forward to working with our friend James again in the future. His story isn’t over – not by a long shot.
There is little due process in the court of public opinion. James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial. Given the growing political divide in this country, it’s safe to say instances like this will continue, although we hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponizing mob mentality.
It is our hope that what has transpired can serve as an example for all of us to realize the enormous responsibility we have to ourselves and to each other regarding the use of our written words when we etch them in digital stone; that we as a society may learn from this experience and in the future will think twice before we decide what we want to express; and in so learning perhaps can harness this capability to help and heal instead of hurting each other. Thank you for taking the time to read our words.
The Guardians of the Galaxy,
[totalpoll id=”45783″]
Dave Bautista took to Twitter to share a number of hashtags.
#IStandWithJamesGunn #RehireJamesGunn #WeAreGroot pic.twitter.com/w3uh61hd78
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) July 30, 2018
Pom Klementieff also shared the letter to Instagram and added: “Though I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago he is a good man. 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.”
Karen Gillan also used Instagram adding, “A few words from the Guardians of the Galaxy #wearegroot.”
Zoe Saldana added, “If you please, read the statement written and signed by The Guardians of the Galaxy cast in support of James Gunn’s reinstatement as director of GOTG Volume 3.”
Vin Diesel also posted it to Instagram adding: From the Guardians Family…
We are Groot!
Sean Gunn simply shared the letter and “#wearegroot.”
A petition on Change.org has called for Disney to rehire James Gunn. It has been signed by over 335,000 people.
While the cast statement addresses many of the Tweets which involved pedophilia and child rape which Gunn calls jokes, it does not address the Blind Item from Crazy Days and Nights which hints that a Hollywood director who was recently fired “came this close to going down with a someone convicted of producing and distributing child porn. The director was in possession of child porn but the feds decided to not file charges. The investigation into the director was active until as recently as two months ago.”
I do agree with their statement that some due process should be involved. Disney should do an internal investigation much like AMC did with Chris Hardwick in order to determine the truth surrounding Gunn’s Tweets and his relationship with Huston Huddleston, who plead guilty to possessing child porn earlier this year.
Do you think James Gunn should be reinstated or should Disney perform an internal investigation?