James Gunn has been removed as director of the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise following a series of offensive and controversial tweets that resurfaced on the internet earlier this week. The director, who brought the intergalactic team of misfits to life back in 2014, was in the middle of working on Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3.
No replacement has been announced by Disney.
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement to THR.
After the tweets were discovered, dating back to 2010 and 2011, Gunn took to the internet to apologise for his comments.
“Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo,” explained Gunn on Twitter. “As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”
“It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger,” Gunn continued. “My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over.”
As of this writing, both Gunn’s Twitter accounts and website are both down.