Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3: Disney Called Out For James Gunn Firing Hypocrisy
Thanos creator weighs in on controversy too...
Two more voices have lent their support to James Gunn since his firing by Disney over a series of offensive "joke" Tweets over the weekend. First, Thanos co-creator Jim Starlin released this statement calling out the studio for a bad decision:
“After giving it a couple days to think over this James Gunn/Disney controversy, I've come to the conclusion that the Mouse got played. Yes, Gunn's decade-old tweets were distasteful and stupid, but clearly meant to be foolishly provocative rather than taken as advocacy. The whole uproar over them was plainly ginned up by two Breitbart hatchet men, John Nolte and Mike Cernovich, in response to Rosanne Barr's firing for her repeated hate-filled and racist tweets. I have to agree with Dave Bautisa on this one. Disney accepted a ridiculous apple and oranges argument and made one hell of a bad call.”
And then, somewhat more eye-catchingly, Disney actor Bobcat Goldthwait joined Guardians Of The Galaxy actor Dave Bautista in publicly challenging the decision. His reaction will no doubt attract a little more attention as it came with the suggestion that he ought to have his voice removed from an upcoming Disney attraction based on his own history of offensive jokes.
He's set to voice Pain (from Hercules) for the new World Of Colour - Villainous ride, and suggested in an Instagram post that it wouldn't be right for Gunn to be fired and him to stay involved despite them both committing the same transgressions.
Interestingly, Goldthwait also called Disney hypocritical (at least he threw that shades rather subtly) over their history with Victor Salva, a convicted child abuser and pedophile who made Powder for Buena Vista (Disney's North American distribution arm). The fact that his employment came 7 years after his conviction doesn't exactly suggest the studio were unaware. But then, there was no trial by Twitter back then and apparently that's more important to some companies than actual trials for child sex crimes...
Here's Goldthwait's protest post: