Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt have broken their silence following the news that the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise director, James Gunn, was fired on Friday by Walt Disney Studios.
Gunn, 51, who has directed both of the Marvel superhero films, was fired from working on the upcoming third film after offensive tweets he published during 2008 to 2009 were rediscovered.
Publicised by news site The Daily Caller, the since-deleted tweets made jokes about rape, pedophilia, the 9/11 terror attack and the Holocaust, among other things.
Pratt, 39, who plays Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy films alongside Saldana, 40, who plays Gamora, both took to Twitter to speak out.
Saldana wrote: “It's been a challenging weekend I'm not gonna lie. 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, who decided not to address the situation directly chose to share a biblical passage to his six million followers instead. He wrote: “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, James 1:19”.
After the decade-old tweets were resurfaced, Gunn took to Twitter to defend himself on Friday.
“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 humour,” he wrote.
“It's not to say I'm better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it's shocking and trying to get a reaction are over.”
“For the record, when I made these shocking jokes, I wasn't living them out. I know this is a weird statement to make, and seems obvious, but, still, here I am, saying it.
“Anyway, that's the completely honest truth: I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don't anymore. I don't blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today. Love you to you all.”
Walt Disney Studios released a statement on their decision to axe 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,” chairman Alan Horn said.