Disney fires “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise director James Gunn over rude tweets

“Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise director James Gunn has been axed from the third movie over a series of offensive messages posted on Twitter several years ago. The tweets, mainly from 2008 and 2011, joked about taboo topics such as rape and paedophilia.

Disney, which owns the franchise as the parent company of Marvel Studios, sent AFP a statement confirming the studio was parting ways with one of its biggest stars. “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,” said Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios.

Gunn has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and has drawn the ire of conservative critics, who went back through his timeline and dug up the tweets.