Did Disney do the right thing in firing James Gunn?

[AgentRedgrave]

So I'm sure we've all heard how James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. The reasons being he'd been speaking out a lot against Donald Trump lately, so Trump supporters dug up some old tweets he's posted a decade ago. Now the content of the tweets is pretty f@#ked up (He basically made a lot of rape and pedophilia jokes), and as a result, James Gunn was let go by Disney. Now if you want my two cents, firing the man for something he wrote (not did or even said) a decade ago (between 2008-2009) is pretty ridicules and I think Disney made a bad call. But I'm gonna ask you guys for your opinions. NOTE: Do not click yes simply cause you personally don't like GOTG, or any of James Gunn's other movies, or if you simply think another director would be better. The question is, do you feel the reasoning behind James Gunn's firing was justified.

 

[Lain]

do you feel the reasoning behind James Gunn's firing was justified.

Yes.

At the end of the day, Marvel/Disney are a business and the goal is to make money. Having such an extremely controversial man directing one of your bigger sources of income is going to alienate people and is almost certainly going to cost profit. The correct solution is for Disney/Marvel to cut their losses and hire a different director.

Do I think people should have been as outraged as they were? Not really, but that's just the kind of world we live in now. It serves as a lesson that Twitter can be easily weaponised as what you say on the internet stays on there forever and will come back to haunt you. It's why I don't use social media really.

 

[AgentRedgrave]

Yes.

At the end of the day, Marvel/Disney are a business and the goal is to make money. Having such an extremely controversial man directing one of your bigger sources of income is going to alienate people and is almost certainly going to cost profit. The correct solution is for Disney/Marvel to cut their losses and hire a different director.

I do agree with this point to an extent....But how much the decision has outraged the GOTG cast and the fans, as well as other actors and film makers, surly can't be good for business either.

 

[Lain]

I do agree with this point to an extent....But how much the decision has outraged the GOTG cast and the fans, as well as other actors and film makers, surly can't be good for business either.

Perhaps, but it was a calculated decision based on the belief that the outrage over changing directors would be both lesser and it would gradually fade over time whereas Gunn remaining would not only be subject to attacks for this film but any future projects in the future and as such the net worth of excising Gunn from the company would be greater in the long run.

Believe me, I'm no fan of Disney - especially what they've done with Star Wars. But from a business standpoint I do believe they made the correct decision on this.

 

[AgentRedgrave]

Off topic, but if you're unsatisfied with how Star Wars is being run now. The person to point the finger at is Kathleen Kennedy

 

[Jak]

Straight up, they can do whatever they want, because they're a private company who can choose who to fire and who to hire. But ethically, they're in the wrong. James Gunn not only made those tweets, and jokes a decade ago, but he also already apologized for them before he was working on Guardians of the Galaxy. Plus, that style of humor is what James Gunn built his career on, and the last film he made before GotG was a movie where he played a rape scene for comedy. If Disney didn't want a person like that associate with their brand, then they shouldn't have hired him in the first place. Also, the way Disney word their statement addressing the issue is like they couldn't trust Gunn to behave in a manner that wouldn't make them look bad. Which is really stupid, considering that aside from a few politically charged tweets that every celebrity makes these days, he's done nothing to push the envelope, or rock the boat. Even his GotG films are very toned down for his standards, and are extremely child friendly. So it's not like he's not willing to play ball with the mouse, and its sensibilities. And on top of that, it's really gross that Gunn was terminated for tweets he made 10 years ago, while not under the employ of Disney, meanwhile Ryan Johnson gets to keep his job after harassing people who didn't like his movie on the same platform. If that level of unprofessionalism is tolerated at Disney, and someone like James Gunn gets the boot, then this isn't a matter of social media conduct. It's being hyper reactionary to a nonissue.

 

[Innsmouth]

I think Disney are hypocrites. They pretend they shocked by it, but they knew exactly what person he is. Hell, he worked for Troma. IF anybody doesn't know what they are, they building whole company on sick twisted humor, even going as far as showing classroom of disabled children being raped and killed in one of their movies. But they simply decided to hide their head in the sand. If it's proven that he's pedophile I would stand with them, but till than, screw Disney.