“We couldn’t stomach it”: Marvel’s Boss Kevin Feige Did Not Like Firing James Gunn Over His Controversial Tweet

Last Updated on: 2 May, 2023 | 12:05 AM

James Gunn has opened up about being re-hired by Marvel following his sacking from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise in 2018, with The President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige also weighing in on the saga. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy and Gunn shared their insight. According to the director, the decision to re-hire him came at the behest of then-Disney film chairman Alan Horn.

Feige, among all other people, did not want Gunn to be removed and they hated doing it. He was very happy about the re-hiring.

Why Was James Gunn Removed?

James Gunn was removed from the franchise amid backlash over historical bad-taste tweets. However, the cast of Guardians Of The Galaxy, including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldaña, immediately rallied behind Gunn and lobbied for his return. Gunn had previously apologized for the tweets, which contained jokes about rape and pedophilia. However, they then resurfaced in what was widely reported to be an attempt to get him fired by right-wing social media users, who were unhappy with his negative comments about then-US president Donald Trump.

In an interview, Kevin Feige stated that they never interviewed anyone to take Gunn’s place in his absence. The Marvel Boss said, “We didn’t even put a preliminary list together just because we couldn’t do it. We couldn’t stomach it.”. Even Horn regretted his decision and had problems sleeping over it. Gunn said, “It’s 100 percent because Alan Horn felt sick. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do,”.

Kevin Feige On Re-Hiring James Gunn

When Feige was asked about how he felt about the re-hiring, he said,

“Well, I can’t speak for Alan, but I know he said he really, really … Alan is an amazing man, and is an amazing boss and an amazing mentor, and the MCU would not be what it is today had Bob Iger not hired him to run Walt Disney Studios when he did.”

Gunn repeatedly took responsibility for his words, which he called “stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped.”. Feige greeted Gunn’s official return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with euphoria.

The director’s Tweets that sparked outrage for years were decades old. Gunn had made offensive statements about r*pe, p*dophilia, and about people with AIDS. These Tweets were on sensitive topics and people criticized Gunn for joking about such topics in his Tweets in an offensive way.

James Gunn on the sets of Guardians Of The Galaxy — James Gunn on the sets of *Guardians Of The Galaxy*

Disney’s decision against Gunn came as a shock to many people in Hollywood. His career was ruined as a filmmaker after Disney parted ways from him. However, Gunn was welcomed back with happiness and respect. Feige has to run a whole production studio and he has to take some steps sometimes. But it goes without saying that All is well that ends well.

Source: Independent

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