Over 230,000 petition Disney to rehire 'Guardians of the Galaxy' director James Gunn
Over 230,000 people have signed a petition to rehire Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn.
This new level of public support for the director comes after days of online and Comic-Con debate following Disney's decision to dismiss the director from the third Guardians installment.
Gunn was fired by Disney following a series of resurfaced old tweets. Although Disney did not point out the tweets, several that made light of pedophilia or AIDS were shared widely on the platform after his firing. Some tweets date back to 2009. Gunn issued an official apology for the tweets.
At the time of writing, over 230,000 people have signed the Charge.org petition titled "Rehire James Gunn."
It's unlikely Disney will reverse their decision based on a public petition, but Chandler Edwards, who launched the petition, has acknowledged this, instead hoping the studio will not fire another director for their past comments.
"I'm smart enough to know this most likely won't change anything but hopefully, this could get Disney to realize the mistake they made and not do it again in the future," reads Edwards' petition, which goes on to offer reasons of support for Gunn.
"I agree on the point that if people say a bunch of stupid shit while working for a studio, the studio has full right to fire him over the possible controversy. This situation is very different though as he made these jokes years before he was working for Disney and also the fact that they were jokes."
Edwards noted that Gunn's behaviour, which Edwards described as a "bad attempt at being funny," isn't a one-off and that "if you do this to Gunn you have to do it for all the other directors who have said some crappy joke sometime in their life, which is all of them."
Guardians stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana have weighed in on the situation, after his brother (and cast member) Sean Gunn, Drax actor Dave Bautista, and Yondu actor Michael Rooker, showed their support for the director over the weekend.
It's a significant amount of signatures, for sure. But realistically? It's unlikely to sway Disney.
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.
