Why Rehiring James Gunn Is Harder For Disney Than Fans Realize

[UPDATE: It seems Marvel may yet rehire James Gunn - just not for Guardians 3.]

After James Gunn's sudden and shocking firing from Guardians of the Galaxy 3, fans and celebrities have been showing support, begging Disney to rehire the director, but the House of Mouse doesn't seem likely to budge on its decision, and it shouldn't be much of a surprise.

Years before Gunn was brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, he saw himself as an edgy comedian and provocateur - traits that he not only expressed in his movies, but also in his Twitter feed. Little was off topic for Gunn as he made light of rape, pedophilia, 9/11, the Holocaust, and everything in between.

Gunn has veered away from such controversial content since joining Disney, but after a recent political Twitter spat led to the Tweets being brought to light, Gunn quickly deleted thousands of old posts, but it was too late and screenshots were already wildly circulating. In a quick and decisive action, Disney fired the director. Gunn took full responsibility in a sincere apology. In the fallout, many have been quick to explain the context and how the tweets aren't reflective of his character today, fans started a petition, which currently has over 365,000 signatures, and the Guardians of the Galaxy cast released an open letter urging Disney to rehire Gunn. The support is impressive, and they may be right, but it's a much more complicated situation than that, and it's doubtful Disney will bring Gunn back. If they do, it won't be a quick or easy decision.

This Page: Context Matters
Page 2: The General Audience Doesn't Care About Context
Page 3: This Can't Be Swept Under the Rug

Context Matters

The fact that Gun had offensive tweets in his history is no surprise to anyone that has followed his career. Gunn got his start with Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Entertainment, where edgy, shocking, boundary-pushing subject matter was the objective. The tweets that got him fired were intended to be offensive at the time, although that kind of inappropriate humor, while intended to be politically incorrect, would have received more of an eye roll than outrage by many at the time when they were first posted.

That doesn't make them funny. Gunn has sincerely apologized for them, as he should, but any attempt to treat them as more than bad jokes is ill-founded. There have been no claims of any actual wrongdoing against Gunn, and it's important to draw a line between ill-conceived jokes in poor taste and actual acts of pedophilia.

By all accounts, Gunn has actually grown and changed significantly since he originally made the jokes, embracing the more family-friendly nature of his work with Marvel, and the entire cast of his Guardians movies has gone to bat for him.

To condemn Gunn today for the offensive tweets he made years ago totally ignores all this context, and, while the jokes he made are just as bad today as they were when he made them, he shouldn't still be associated with them today. It was short-sighted of him to not delete them years ago when he moved on from that style of humor, but the fact that the worst things being attributed to him happened a decade ago actually says a lot about how much he's changed in that time.

Unfortunately, this more nuanced understanding of the context is not something Disney can expect from general audiences.

Page 2: The General Audience Doesn't Care About Context

The General Audience Doesn't Care About Context

One of the biggest points made by Gunn's defenders is that the tweets surfaced because of a bad faith act by a provocateur with political motivations. Gunn was an active political voice on Twitter and has been particularly critical of President Trump, and, as tends to happen, some people took issue with this. Digging into Gunn's Twitter history, the tweets were dug up and broadcast across the internet, quickly gaining traction on social media at a pace far too fast for many to absorb the context for what was happening.

The thing is, the fact that the act was a politically motivated takedown doesn't matter to most of the general audience who don't follow movie news and social media drama to the extent that many fans and other members of the media do. The Tweets weren't fabricated, so the motivations don't matter to them. In fact, a sizeable portion of audiences may even agree with the political motivations.

When it comes to average parents and casual moviegoers who digest this kind of news for the first time days after it happens, the only words that matter are "pedophile tweets." Even when provided with a detailed explanation of the original context of the tweets, Gunn's changed character, the political motivations, and etc., the fact that Gunn - at any point in time, for any reason - made light of child rape is too much for many people to swallow, and no amount of excuses will make them brush it aside.

It's certainly not fair, but it's an unfortunate reality. Even if a sizeable chunk is able to get over the offensive tweets, Disney is still looking at potentially millions in lost revenue, not only for Guardians 3, but any other Disney movie. In the age of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and other problematic Hollywood figures, Disney needs to be seen as taking a strong stance on the issue, and, unfortunately, that might include innocent casualties like Gunn.

Disney Fired Gunn Too Quickly

James Gunn on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy (photo Disney-Marvel)

Things might be different if Disney hadn't acted so quickly to fire Gunn after the tweets resurfaced. Gunn isn't the only high profile creative to come under similar scrutiny for past behavior recently, but his situation is certainly more famous. His connection to Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy certainly give him a higher profile than Chris Hardwick or Dan Harmon, but it was really Disney's quick firing that made the situation blow up and receive the amount of attention it has.

If Disney had simply stated it was investigating the tweets and looking into Gunn's more recent character and behavior, then let things die down and later released a statement later condemning the tweets, but saying Gunn has clearly changed and hasn't made such offensive comments in recent years, and certainly not while under their employ, things may have blown over.

Instead, Disney effectively threw gasoline on a fire with the shock of his firing, drawing more widespread (and less nuanced) mainstream attention to the issue in a way that is far harder to reverse. Sure, Gunn has plenty of defenders and a hefty petition with his name on it, but there's no escaping the story of the "pedophile tweets" now.

Page 3: This Can't Be Swept Under the Rug

Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn and the Avenger

This Can't Be Swept Under the Rug

Thanks to Disney's hasty reaction, Gunn's tweets have become the biggest story surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Even if Disney were to renounce its decision and bring him back, the story of the pedophile tweets would follow production and be a major talking point during interviews and the general discussion leading up to release.

Nevermind the likely boycotts. The same provocateurs who initially spread the tweets around are likely to raise attention to them again before release, likely resulting in Disney boycotts in some circles, where some families are on the constant verge of boycotting Disney already anyway. And this isn't a fan boycott, which rarely has the same box office impact. General audiences, not hardcore fans, drive box office, and that's the demographic that will be most influenced by the news about Gunn's Tweets. It's a significant enough issue to give Disney serious concerns over the movie's box office impact and the franchise's long-term brand image.

Gunn has already written the first draft for Guardians of the Galaxy 3, so there could still be a small role for him in the franchise's future. He's unlikely to be brought back as the movie's director, but unless his story is thrown out entirely, and the new story doesn't even bear a faint resemblance, he'll still receive a story (and possibly writer) credit when the movie hits theaters. And who knows, after a few years, Disney might even be able to bring him back for another - non-Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - project down the road.

In the wake of Gunn's firing, other celebrities have also begun deleting past tweets to ensure any of their own minor infractions from years ago won't be brought against them in a similar way. Disney was apparently unaware of Gunn's own Twitter history when they first signed him, but they're likely to be more careful in that regard in the future. While this situation is certainly sad for Gunn and fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, it's also a cautionary tale for anyone else who gains Gunn's prominence. Creatives have typically been held to less strict standards than the average person when it comes to keeping a clean social media presence due to potential employer scrutiny. Tweets like the ones from Gunn would have gotten many people fired from non-show-business work, and similar (although likely still less stringent) standards may be applied to creatives more in the future.