The stars of Guardians of the Galaxy have published an open letter in support of director James Gunn. The filmmaker was fired by Disney earlier this month after inappropriate tweets resurfaced. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementeiff and Michael Rooker all signed the statement, which calls for Gunn to be brought back to direct the third film in the franchise. The letter, which was posted on Chris's Instagram, begins, “We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen and discuss.” Gunn has already apologized for the tweets, which joked about such subjects as rape and pedophilia.
The stars say, “We are not here to defend his jokes of many years ago but rather to share our experience having spent many years together making Guardians of the Galaxy’1 and 2. The character he has shown in the wake of his firing is consistent with the man he was every day on set, and his apology, now and from years ago when first addressing these remarks, we believe is from the heart, a heart we all know, trust and love.” Pratt adds, “Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. I’d personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3."