Bassem Youssef says he and James Gunn are cool over Superman: Legacy "fiasco"

There’s no beef between comedian and actor Bassem Youssef and Superman: Legacy director/king of all D.C. Comics movies James Gunn, apparently. Which is worth noting since, earlier this week, Youssef made headlines with a series of interviews he gave (most notably in Salon) where he talked about losing out on a part in Gunn’s upcoming Superman reboot—and the ways the timing of his rejection from the role seemed to line up with some public comments that he’d made in support of Palestine amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Now, Youssef has made it clear that he and Gunn have since talked through the series of events that led him to no longer be associated with the project, saying he believes the way it was handled was now an “honest oversight.”

Most Popular

• James Cameron calls Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer "a bit of a moral cop out"
• New Golden Bachelor told producers he'd "cut" any women his own age
• Squid Game delivers a claustrophobic masterwork

Youssef made his statement in a video on social media, which he said was intended to clear the air and give his untainted version of events. (Especially since he’s apparently already filmed another interview, before this all blew up, in which he told a similar story, which will air next week.) In short, Youssef says he sent in a taped audition to Gunn a day before the SAG-AFTRA strike began in 2023, which led to a one-on-one “chemistry” call with Gunn that seemed to confirm he’d gotten the part of Rumaan Harjavti in the film. Then, though, the strike shut everything down—notably before any further camera tests could be shot, or contracts signed. From Youssef’s perspective, he then went on Piers Morgan’s show a few months later, in a broadcast that aired on October 17, to talk about Palestine—and almost immediately got a call that the script for Superman had been changed, and that his part had been removed.

Gunn has, through his own social media presence, endorsed accounts that say the script had already been altered, and Youssef’s part cut, in September, before the October 7th attack of Israel by Hamas; he doesn’t appear to discount, though, that Youssef didn’t hear about any of this until after he’d been on Piers Morgan. And, in Youssef’s accounting, Gunn apparently said he understood why the comedian might’ve made the connections that he did. (He also notes, as sources indicated to us this week, that Gunn didn’t consider Youssef officially cast in the film at any point, since the strike had interrupted that normal process.) And while Youssef does hedge just a bit (saying “I hope there was nothing else but that” behind any of the decisions), and he does say he believes the entire thing was “mishandled,” he makes it clear that he bears no ill-will toward Gunn or anyone else involved in the “fiasco.”

Superman: Legacy is currently scheduled for a July 11, 2025 release date.

[via Deadline]