Following Disney’s startling firing of James Gunn last Friday, ‘Star Wars’ director Rian Johnson has deleted thousands of tweets from his Twitter account. Gunn’s termination came after a right-wing group released screenshots of several of Gunn’s old tweets in which he made off-the-cuff jokes about pedophilia, rape, 9/11, the Holocaust and more. Gunn had already deleted these tweets but conservative opponents to his left-wing stance took screen caps and released them in order to damage his career, which they accomplished.
Johnson’s Twitter account had 22.3K posts, but now it only shows 1,100+. It’s unclear what all of those tweets contained, but some are archived at web.archive.org.
Gunn was one of Disney’s best directors in terms of delivering hits. He masterminded the two ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies and was at work on a third, which was due to begin production next year for a 2020 release. It was one of only two Marvel Studios movies that were confirmed as coming out after next year’s ‘Avengers 4’. (The other is ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’.)
Johnson directed the controversial ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and has been handed the reigns on a brand new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy. It’s understandable that he wants to remain in a spot that nearly every director in Hollywood would kill for. But grownups say what grownups say and sometimes those things aren’t meant for children. But Disney is primarily known for its family entertainment and that very much includes its Marvel and ‘Star Wars’ brands. Unfortunately, that means those affiliated with these brands must conduct themselves in a certain way, even online.
The Gunn firing was a shock with many taking his side. After all, the offending posts amounted to dumb jokes made over ten years ago before his attachment to Disney and Marvel. Fans have begun an online petition to have Disney reinstate him. But Roseanne Barr, who was fired from her ABC (also owned by Disney) sitcom over an inflammatory Twitter rant, voiced anger at those supporting Gunn, calling them hypocrites.
Of course, Gunn was fired over tweets he had already deleted, so it remains to be seen whether or not Johnson’s purging of his Twitter feed will do any good, or if there is some skeleton in that virtual closet that may pop back up in the future.
Source: Cosmic Book News
