Current Events: The Firing of James Gunn

[mfunk9786]

James Gunn is probably gonna lose his job directing Marvel movies becuase alt-right dweebs acting in bad faith "uncovered" very dirty jokes he made on Twitter pre-2012

[domino harvey]

According to the linked article, he already has. Aren't those Guardians movies like 100% him? How are they going to do a third without him?

EDIT: Also, unless I'm missing some major context, those tweets in question are legit awful

[mfunk9786]

James Gunn is probably gonna lose his job directing Marvel movies becuase alt-right dweebs acting in bad faith "uncovered" very dirty jokes he made on Twitter pre-2012

Yup, fired.

Don't give a shit about Gunn or his films but this was orchestrated by truly terrible alt-right guys cruelly and cynically and they've ruined someone's career overnight. In case you ever think Disney or any other giant monolithic company cares about creative people's right to free speech, think again.

EDIT, just saw Domino's post:. The article must have been updated since I linked it.

And I'm with you (mostly because they aren't funny) but jokes are jokes. Personal conduct is personal conduct. It's ridiculous to equate the two, as the people who "uncovered" this stuff have.

[mfunk9786]

"This is who Disney kowtowed to in firing Gunn." [NSFL]

[domino harvey]

"This is who Disney kowtowed to in firing Gunn." [NSFL]

Well, thanks for ruining my day. No one should read this. Trust me, I want to go back in time and stop myself.

[McCrutchy]

We really need to have a conversation as a society about exactly what is and what isn't okay to say, because I'll be honest, this is the second time in as many days I've felt that someone was wrongly fired for verbal misconduct.

The first was yesterday, when Amy Powell was fired from Paramount Television for "concerns around comments made...in a professional setting, which [Viacom believes] were inconsistent with our company’s values". And it's really irking me that they won't even reveal exactly what was said. Supposedly, she was to be reprimanded, but was fired when she strongly denied the comments--another aspect that doesn't sit well with me.

I feel like if Viacom/Paramount are going to publicly fire an executive for "comments", they need to reveal what those comments were. When Roseanne Barr was fired by ABC, we saw why, and when John Schnatter was forced out by Papa John's Pizza, we were told about his use of the N-word on top of knowing about his recent history of unflattering behavior. Those firings made sense, but Powell's firing thus far cannot be reconciled, and it makes the situation very uncomfortable.

Now, we have this James Gunn thing today, and look, I'm no fan of his movies, because I think they tend to be forgettable and overly juvenile, but looking at some of the tweets, it's pretty clear they are likely in jest. However, even if they weren't, I'm still not in support of firing people over their use of language, especially in a "first offense" type situation. Destroying years or hard work, possibly over as little as a single verbal indiscretion, which could, of course, take less than a second, is simply not okay with me, and we need to find some other solution to this issue other than simply knee-jerk termination and public shaming.

[knives]

Not to mention how these tweets are nearly a decade old and from before he got this job.

[cdnchris]

"This is who Disney kowtowed to in firing Gunn." [NSFL]

Well, thanks for ruining my day. No one should read this. Trust me, I want to go back in time and stop myself.

I read the first two sentences and stopped but really should have stopped at the first.

[Big Ben]

Y'all have never heard of Mike Cernovich? This man IS a rapist. He raped a girl and then hired a private investigator to harass her into saying it was battery. He's on tape saying it's rape. Site and Youtube links is NSFW and is dumb as shit. This site has documented all his various beliefs and actions. Disney REALLY fucked up here. I thought this was a bunch of random alt right chuds. But Cernovich? No god damn way Gunn should take this from this clown.

[Brian C]

In case you ever think Disney or any other giant monolithic company cares about creative people's right to free speech, think again.

Not really something normally associated with Disney anyway m, but yes, point taken.

Anyway, I’m a little surprised. Gunn’s tweets aren’t really THAT bad. They’re juvenile and thoughtless in the way that self-impressed provocateurs tend to be, but even by that standard I feel it takes some effort to avoid worse. Feels like a pretext for something Disney was considering anyway.

[mfunk9786]

Sounds like a pretty crummy way of retroactively trying to explain this away, if they were thinking of firing him maybe don't do it the moment this comes up?

[cdnchris]

Was there a reason to want to fire him? My understanding is he was the main force behind the Guardians films and they were both big hits (when no one thought the first would do all that well).

[Brian C]

Who knows, that’s probably not what happened, it just would make sense as to why they pulled the trigger so fast.

Could be anything. Maybe budget’s starting to climb in the next one and he wouldn’t rein it in. Maybe GotG was getting too aureurist within the Marvel culture. Maybe he forgot Feige’s birthday. Could be anything. Or nothing. It’s just weird, that’s all.

[swo17]

Or maybe we do in fact live in a world now where you can lose your job/reputation entirely over something like this, particularly if you're in the public eye and one group or another plays the moral outrage card. If only that were the worst thing happening right now

[mfunk9786]

Who knows, that’s probably not what happened, it just would make sense as to why they pulled the trigger so fast.

Could be anything. Maybe budget’s starting to climb in the next one and he wouldn’t rein it in. Maybe GotG was getting too aureurist within the Marvel culture. Maybe he forgot Feige’s birthday. Could be anything. Or nothing. It’s just weird, that’s all.

Not sure why you seem so fixated on trying to provide an alternate reason for this.

[tenia]

This seemed to have happened EXTREMELY quickly, and considering he already apologized for it (multiple times ?) and who retrieved these tweets back, I understand people might think it hasn't taken so little time for no other reason.

This really seems like a crazy situation though. Gunn's tweets are awfully poorly tasted, but the guy who retrieved them seems even more awful.

[hearthesilence]

"This is who Disney kowtowed to in firing Gunn." [NSFL]

Well, thanks for ruining my day. No one should read this. Trust me, I want to go back in time and stop myself.

I read the first two sentences and stopped but really should have stopped at the first.

Thanks for taking one for the board. I would have clicked on that otherwise.

[Big Ben]

This seemed to have happened EXTREMELY quickly, and considering he already apologized for it (multiple times ?) and who retrieved these tweets back, I understand people might think it hasn't taken so little time for no other reason.

This really seems like a crazy situation though. Gunn's tweets are awfully poorly tasted, but the guy who retrieved them seems even more awful.

Empowering Cernovich is probably the worst thing you can do. He has on more than one occasion directed harassment against users by using his followers. And surprise! Twitter won't do anything because Jack a Twitter founder follows him on Twitter!

[Brian C]

Who knows, that’s probably not what happened, it just would make sense as to why they pulled the trigger so fast.

Could be anything. Maybe budget’s starting to climb in the next one and he wouldn’t rein it in. Maybe GotG was getting too aureurist within the Marvel culture. Maybe he forgot Feige’s birthday. Could be anything. Or nothing. It’s just weird, that’s all.

Not sure why you seem so fixated on trying to provide an alternate reason for this.

Yes, I'm so fixated that I put two disclaimers in the post you quoted that there probably wasn't anything else. You can practically taste the fixation!

[mfunk9786]

Damn, the ol' "I know you are but what am I?" defense. I have whiplash from how badly I've been outsmarted by someone literally pretending he didn't post something that he posted. Bravo.

[Brian C]

Damn, the ol' "I know you are but what am I?" defense. I have whiplash from how badly I've been outsmarted by someone literally pretending he didn't post something that he posted. Bravo.

Oh, for Christ's sake.

I have no idea why you have a bee in your bonnet over this, but here you go, I'll bold and underline the relevant parts since you've apparently somehow missed them twice now:

Who knows, that’s probably not what happened, it just would make sense as to why they pulled the trigger so fast.

Could be anything. Maybe budget’s starting to climb in the next one and he wouldn’t rein it in. Maybe GotG was getting too aureurist within the Marvel culture. Maybe he forgot Feige’s birthday. Could be anything. Or nothing. It’s just weird, that’s all.

On top of which, I thought the bit about missing Feige's birthday was a pretty clear sign that I wasn't taking this scenario entirely seriously. But it didn't matter, you decided you had to get up on your high horse over literally nothing, and then for some inexplicable reason double down when called out on it.

I don't get it, but whatever else you have to say, have at it. I'm done with this particular nonsense of yours.

[domino harvey]

He's going after Michael Ian Black for... posting about pizza

[mfunk9786]

Good thing he doesn't work for Disney, I guess!

[McCrutchy]

Or Papa John's...

[domino harvey]

Could this spell disaster for Pets.com ??!