James Gunn and offensive tweets

[penn19]

Have you seen this story?

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...-letter-chris-pratt-zoe-saldana-a8470786.html

 

[Skellingtonj]

The worst part of this is the guy that got him fired, tweeted rape jokes.

#wearegroot

 

[penn19]

The worst part of this is the guy that got him fired, tweeted rape jokes.

#wearegroot[/QUOTE
Both men are wrong.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Gunn says they were all from ten years ago, which is not true. Some were from 5 - 6 years ago, which would have been right around the first GOTG movie went into production. Gunn should have known better. Disney should have probably avoided him all together or told him to delete the tweets years ago (because this came up before).

I don't feel bad for the guy. The tweets weren't funny. I do think it's interesting how we don't hold everybody to the same standard. Look at R. Kelly: dude had sex with minors, yet still has new albums come out. Roman Polanski gets standing ovations at the Oscars. Woody Allen is still making movies. Michael Richards, meanwhile, is still a pariah. Don't get me wrong, Richards was wrong. But do you see the serious lack of consistency here?

 

[Hikergirl]

I honestly haven't followed this but I did over hear my dd's boyfriend tell her that he was fired because it came out he was a pedophile.
So all he did was tweet some offensive jokes and he is neither a rapist or a pedo? I don't care one way or another about this man, but it really seems crazy to me to fire someone over some jokes he "told" years ago.
And I agree @FlightlessDuck there is definitely a double standard when it comes to things like this.

 

[GreatLakes]

I honestly haven't followed this but I did over hear my dd's boyfriend tell her that he was fired because it came out he was a pedophile.
So all he did was tweet some offensive jokes and he is neither a rapist or a pedo? I don't care one way or another about this man, but it really seems crazy to me to fire someone over some jokes he "told" years ago.
And I agree @FlightlessDuck there is definitely a double standard when it comes to things like this.

There is no actual evidence he has done anything illegal. He joked about things like pedophilia and rape. His statement was that at the time he was paid to be provocative as an online character.

It is an illustration on why it is important to always act a certain way online because it can come back to kill you later. Teens now need to keep this in mind as they look to enter the workforce in a decade. What they post now could easily keep them from getting a job in a decade.

Disney really should have also done a better job of research to know if this was out there and, if they decided they wanted to hire him anyway, get in front of it. If it was indeed a "character" he was playing online and they were able to talk about it in advance they could get past it. When they wait for the media to expose it they really had no choice.

 

[Hikergirl]

There is no actual evidence he has done anything illegal. He joked about things like pedophilia and rape. His statement was that at the time he was paid to be provocative as an online character.

It is an illustration on why it is important to always act a certain way online because it can come back to kill you later. Teens now need to keep this in mind as they look to enter the workforce in a decade. What they post now could easily keep them from getting a job in a decade.

Disney really should have also done a better job of research to know if this was out there and, if they decided they wanted to hire him anyway, get in front of it. If it was indeed a "character" he was playing online and they were able to talk about it in advance they could get past it. When they wait for the media to expose it they really had no choice.

I agree, but I think we still need to use common sense when it comes to things like this. Firing someone for posting a joke, even an offensive one, seems to be a knee jerk reaction without any common sense applied to it.

 

[GreatLakes]

I agree, but I think we still need to use common sense when it comes to things like this. Firing someone for posting a joke, even an offensive one, seems to be a knee jerk reaction without any common sense applied to it.

I agree but they needed to do it in advance, not after the fact. If they were able to talk about the past jokes, that they don't agree with them but they were a character and yada yada yada they could have gotten in front of it. Replying to the revelations after the fact, for a company like Disney, is hard to do.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There isn't any complaint against Gunn, criminal or otherwise, nor any evidence that he is actually a rapist or a pedophile. Guy seems to have just had a sick sense of humor at one point and thought he was being all edgy. Everybody who knows him now is on about what a great guy he is.

It's hard for Disney, because they guard their branding as THE "family entertainment producer" with an iron fist. If he'd posted one joke, maybe, but there are apparently hundreds. Maybe he can make it up to them somehow.

 

[aprilchem]

I read the letter from the stars of GOTG yesterday on Twitter. There was a response to that letter from someone who had collected all of James Gunn's tweets that alluded to pedophilia over the years, and I just don't understand how you could make THAT many jokes about children in that way and not have some sort of issue in your private life. One or two, fine - not funny, but people like to make offensive jokes. But dozens??? I feel like it'll eventually come out that he's a pedophile.

 

[Jennasis]

Are we going to prosecute all people, who say stupid or offensive things, in the court of public opinion? Fire 'em? Just asking,

 

[mom2rtk]

I read the letter from the stars of GOTG yesterday on Twitter. There was a response to that letter from someone who had collected all of James Gunn's tweets that alluded to pedophilia over the years, and I just don't understand how you could make THAT many jokes about children in that way and not have some sort of issue in your private life. One or two, fine - not funny, but people like to make offensive jokes. But dozens??? I feel like it'll eventually come out that he's a pedophile.

Apparently thousands.

 

[Hikergirl]

I read the letter from the stars of GOTG yesterday on Twitter. There was a response to that letter from someone who had collected all of James Gunn's tweets that alluded to pedophilia over the years, and I just don't understand how you could make THAT many jokes about children in that way and not have some sort of issue in your private life. One or two, fine - not funny, but people like to make offensive jokes. But dozens??? I feel like it'll eventually come out that he's a pedophile.

There are plenty of people out there with twisted senses of humor who make jokes that others would find offensive, it doesn't mean they are what they joke about. Dozens of jokes? That's nothing, some people are always joking.

Apparently thousands.

Is it really that many or is it someone saying it is that many? Does someone have screenshots of them?
And what kind of time period are we talking about- a month, a year, 10 year period?

I'm not defending this guy, I'm not even following the story. I'm looking at this in more of a general way that I can relate to people I know, including myself. I have a twisted sense of humor, and I know plenty of people who have the same. We definitely joked about things that others would deem offensive.
There are even professionals out there who make their living being offensive, whether its an act or not, they exist.

 

[Skellingtonj]

I love Sean Gunn’s letter. He stands by his brother. I think Disney was too afraid of the backlash and that’s why they fired him.

 

[cabanafrau]

Are we going to prosecute all people, who say stupid or offensive things, in the court of public opinion? Fire 'em? Just asking,

You're not down to live by mob rule of social media kangaroo courts?

I don't watch these films, don't know this director, haven't really looked into what these tweets said and have no dog in this fight. IMO if we don't start operating with the idea of due process being more than a stray thought we're sunk. We also have to start operating from a place where not all "crimes" deserve complete ruination of a person's life and livelihood and allow for people to change their ways and work their way back.

 

[penn19]

Gunn says they were all from ten years ago, which is not true. Some were from 5 - 6 years ago, which would have been right around the first GOTG movie went into production. Gunn should have known better. Disney should have probably avoided him all together or told him to delete the tweets years ago (because this came up before).

I don't feel bad for the guy. The tweets weren't funny. I do think it's interesting how we don't hold everybody to the same standard. Look at R. Kelly: dude had sex with minors, yet still has new albums come out. Roman Polanski gets standing ovations at the Oscars. Woody Allen is still making movies. Michael Richards, meanwhile, is still a pariah. Don't get me wrong, Richards was wrong. But do you see the serious lack of consistency here?

This is my thought. And where do we draw the line as to what’s offensive? Is it racism? Sexism? Sexual talk against minors? And who determines where the line is?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

"I feel like he ought to be a pedophile" isn't enough. Even after the media firestorm, no accusations and no actual evidence that he is one. In fact, if Mr. Gunn didn't work for Disney, he'd probably still be working.

 

[Kim&Chris]

I read his tweets and nearly threw up. How can anyone, no matter how "edgy" they're trying to be, tweet about sexual violence against children? I can laugh at almost anything, but those tweets crossed every line. And the crazy thing is that Gunn is a smart man, who HAD to know that he was posting things that would come back to haunt him. Sorry, but I have no pity for him, or anyone else, that puts this stuff on social media. Whether you're tweeting about pedophilia, racism, whatever....what you put on the net is forever.

 

[VandVsmama]

He has the right to freedom of speech, but not the right to freedom from the consequences of that speech.

This is why he and every other idiot out there needs to pay attention to what they say on social media sites like Twitter. I have no sympathy for the guy. I love the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but oh well.

It's all just very hypocritical...it's not ok for Roseanne to tweet offensive stuff. It's ok for her to get fired. But because it's the GOTG writer/director & the cast & everybody loves his movies, then the movie studio should hire him back? Sorry, but no.

 

[Hikergirl]

He has the right to freedom of speech, but not the right to freedom from the consequences of that speech.

This is why he and every other idiot out there needs to pay attention to what they say on social media sites like Twitter. I have no sympathy for the guy. I love the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but oh well.

It's all just very hypocritical...it's not ok for Roseanne to tweet offensive stuff. It's ok for her to get fired. But because it's the GOTG writer/director & the cast & everybody loves his movies, then the movie studio should hire him back? Sorry, but no.

Roseanne's tweet was about an actual person. Did this guy single out a specific person/child or was it a general joke about a subject some find offensive?
I don't think it is hypocritical at all, Roseanne's tweet also wasn't 10 years ago, it was in the present.
So I don't see it as the same thing, none of her past offensiveness got her fired, her current behavior did.