The controversy started after comedian Mark Duplass endorsed political commentator Ben Shapiro on Twitter, calling him a “genuine person.”
In a since-deleted tweet, Duplass told his followers to "pay attention to Shapiro" if they are at all interested in “crossing the aisle.” Suffice to say, the extreme backlash to Duplass was brutal, which forced to actor to post an apology.
Gunn defended his fellow filmmaker while still slamming Shapiro:
“Maybe you disagree with Mark Duplass, which is completely fair (personally I think even Ben Shapiro’s mother should unfollow him). But that doesn’t make Duplass’ point-of-view evil,” Gunn tweeted.
He ended the Twitter rant by calling Shapiro an “asshole.” adding that “There are a lot of traitors & racists in the country today. Perhaps save the outrage for them.”
This led to Conservative personalities digging up some old tweets in which Gunn joked about the holocaust, pedophelia and rape. Gunn, who has not been shy with his distate for current President Donald J. Trump, has since deleted his Twitter account.
Gunn tweeted his adieu to Twitter with a final message:
"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," said Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn.
"Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor."
Gunn is the brains behind "Guardians of the Galaxy," without him those movies and characters just wouldn't be what they are today. He has been writing the script for "Guardians 3," the movie was expected to be released in 2020.
Gunn has accused President Donald Trump of being “an operative for a foreign national,” criticizing his zero-tolerance immigration policy, and blamed Republicans for future potential Russian election meddling.
