Guardians actors, 200,000 other people come out in support of James Gunn
Last week, Disney fired Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn over a series of tasteless jokes he posted on his Twitter years ago. People were understandably upset. It was well-known that the spread of these tweets and the ensuing campaign to get Gunn fired were orchestrated by conservative trolls, including Jack Posobiec and Mike Cernovich, and Disney’s willingness to cave sets a bad precedent to say the least. Over the weekend, fans and friends of Gunn made it clear that they were not going to let his dismissal occur without protest.
Michael Rooker, who played Yondu in the Guardians series and formed a close relationship with Gunn over the course of the production, has deleted his Twitter account in solidarity, presumably because the social media platform helps facilitate the kind of fake outrage campaigns that got Gunn fired. “This account will be inactive after today. We’re very tired & upset over the ongoing bullshit,” Rooker wrote in his final post. “Twitter sucks and I want nothing to do with it. Thank you to all who gave kind words and support. See you on Instagram.”
The remaining Guardians cast members shared their own varying messages of support, with Dave Bautista being the most outspoken about the dangers of what he calls a “cybernazi attack.”