It Now Appears That Disney And Marvel Won’t Be Bringing James Gunn Back After All

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Nearly a month after Disney fired James Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 over his objectively bad joke-tweets (about rape, pedophilia, AIDS, and the Holocaust), there’s still no definitive word on who will be helming the movie. The Guardians cast as well as fans of the franchise and friends of Gunn continue to publicly support him, and a few weeks ago, reports circulated about Disney soon discussing rehiring with the embattled director. However, it now appears that both Disney and Marvel have decided not to budge, and the 2020 release will remain without a helmer for now.

Variety reports that despite rising public support for Gunn and a big push from his representatives, Disney chair Alan Horn issued the final call not to reinstate Gunn after meeting with him. Although Variety‘s sources wouldn’t go on the record by name, here’s what reportedly went down:

Gunn and his UTA reps pushed hard for him to be given a second chance, and Horn decided to take the meeting but only as a courtesy to clear the air with Gunn. Though the meeting was described as civil and professional, sources say that Horn stood by his decision to not reinstate Gunn as director.

It must be noted that both Marvel and Disney declined to comment to Variety on the story, but the outlet seemed confident enough in their sources to proceed with the story. Meanwhile, public figures continue to express opinions on the controversy, and that includes Jerry Seinfeld, who told the New York Times that “jokes are not real,” and although he hadn’t read Gunn’s offending tweets, “if they’re jokes, it doesn’t matter.” And so the conversation will continue about whether awful years-old jokes should be enough to get someone fired amid a politically-loaded campaign against leftist public figures, and whether the timing of Disney’s decision left something to be desired.

(Via Variety & New York Times)

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