Micheal Rooker and James Gunn's Brother Respond to Guardians 3 Firing

It's been an intense 24 hours for James Gunn and the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Yesterday, the writer/director was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 by Disney because of some tweets that included truly insensitive and tasteless jokes from nearly a decade ago. Since then, Marvel fans have been divided in their support for Gunn, which is perfectly normal after reading the contents of said tweets and old blog posts. Yondu actor Michael Rooker was asked about the situation on social media and simply said, "James Gunn knows. That's all that matters," which means that it's a private matter between them. Now, his brother, Sean Gunn, who also appears in the Guardians of the Galaxy films has posted a passionate defense online.

Following Michael Rooker's short statement, Sean Gunn, James Gunn's younger brother and Kraglin actor from Guardians of the Galaxy who worked closely with Rooker in the first two movies, posted a long statement about his brother on social media. The aim was to support his brother, but also to give a clearer picture of who James Gunn was before he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe and who he is now. He starts his statement by saying how proud he is of his older brother. Sean Gunn explains.

Sean Gunn continued on about Disney firing James Gunn, stating that James Gunn struggled to find his voice at the beginning of his career. Some may dispute this portion since some of the tweets were made when Gunn was 40-years old, but his younger brother believes that it was all a part of the process. He goes on to say that some of his older brother's ideas were "misguided, or downright stupid," at times. Sean Gunn had this to say.

When it comes to what sparked a change in James Gunn, Sean believes that it was joining the MCU that was the turning point. Sean Gunn says that the Guardians of the Galaxy were a part of his transformation into the person that he is today. The elder Gunn was able to step away from making tweets and blog posts that were supposedly made to be provocative. Gunn continues.

Sean Gunn concludes his lengthy statement by stating that working in the MCU made James Gunn a better person. He even says that it made him a better person as well. There are definitely two different factions of fans when it comes down to the decision that Disney made. Some believe that it was perfectly fine to fire James Gunn just based on what was said, that it doesn't matter when it was said. Others believe that Gunn should not have been fired and believe that Disney is being hypocritical. It all comes down to personal opinion in the end. You can read the rest of the support of James Gunn below, thanks to Sean Gunn's Twitter account.

1. I hope it goes without saying that I love and support my brother James. And I'm quite proud of how kind, generous, and compassionate he is with the people in his life, whether they are friends, family, colleagues, fans, or strangers.

2. Since he was a kid, it was clear he had a desire (maybe destiny) to be an artist, tell stories, find his voice through comics, films, his band. The struggle to find that voice was sometimes clunky, misguided, or downright stupid, and sometimes wonderful, moving, and hilarious.

3. Since devoting his entire life to the Guardians movies and MCU six years ago, I've seen him channel that voice into his work on those movies and seen him transform from the guy who made up things to shock people.

4. I saw firsthand as he went from worrying about "softening his edge" for a larger audience to realizing that his "edge" wasn't as useful of a tool as he thought it was. That his gift for storytelling was something better.

5. I saw that he was more open-hearted than the guy who needed to get a rise out of people by making nasty or offensive jokes (or whatever you choose to call them--I don't think his bluer material was ever his funniest and neither does Mom).

6. In many respects this change in my brother was reflected in the change that the Guardians go through. I've heard my brother say many times that when Quill rallies the team with "this is our chance to give a shit"--to care--that it's the pep talk he himself needed to hear.

7. It's part of what made working on the Guardians movies such a rewarding experience for the cast, myself included. We managed to find ourselves involved in a big-budget superhero movie that was, at its core, deeply personal. That's a gift. And that's why it's good.

8. This isn't new information, by the way. It's all stuff that James has explained many times in interviews, in more detail and more eloquently. It's not some new spin. It's always been part of the story.

9. So I guess my hope is that fans continue to watch and appreciate the Guardians movies, not despite the fact that the filmmaker used to be kind of a jackass, but because of it. They are, after all, movies about discovering your best self.

10. Working on those movies made my brother a better person, and they made me one too. I'm proud of that. Peace.

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