It's been three days since director James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and now the film's stars appear to be sharing their reaction to the news.
After Gunn's controversial tweets resurfaced on social media last week, Disney made the decision to part ways with the director. "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 E! News on Friday.
After the firing, Gunn also shared a statement with E! News. "My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since—not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time," the statement read.
"Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today," the statement continued. "Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all."
Over the weekend, Saldana took to Twitter to share a message about her Guardians family with her fans. "It's been a challenging weekend I'm not gonna lie," she wrote. "I'm pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will."
Pratt also took to Twitter over the weekend, not commenting on the firing directly, but sharing this particular Bible verse: "'Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.' JAMES 1:19," Pratt tweeted.
GOTG star Dave Bautista reacted to the news on Friday, tweeting, "I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving,caring,good natured people I have ever met. He's gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He's made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what's happening to him."
After Gunn's firing, a petition was started to get him re-hired on the film. The petition has since been signed over 160,000 times, almost reaching its goal of 200,000.