Support NeoGAF

[jokingbird]

some even sicker executive from Disney decided to fire him. That's what bothers me the most, everyone has said/done something reprovable in life, what right do we have to judge words from years ago and punish the guy now?

All of this was known years ago. Before Disney hired him, and then after GOTG 1 people brought it up again. He has apologized for the posts multiple times over. They hired him back for GOTG 2. My only guess is he asked for a raise or something. They knew about this stuff for years. The lesson for everyone really is to delete your social media or have it managed by a PR firm.

 

[Beardz]

wow, dude's pretty sick

Sick because he said something "funny" or stupid almost 10 years ago?

 

[Revolutionary]

This is insane because anyone who is familiar with Gunn's previous B-movie work knows this is his kind of humor. Disney had to have known lol.. this is just a kneejerk response to the outrage mob as usual.

But whatever, time for DC to scoop him up and make their movies fun again.

 

[It's Jeff]

I see. So for the last 40 years, Hollywood has been campaigning to let Roman Polanski finally come back to the States. Remember, this man was CONVICTED of drugging and raping a 13 year old girl and fled the country.

These are tweets. Old tweets. Disney, you are a gutless, faithless disgrace.

 

[RubxQub]

I don't even know what to say. I just find it incredibly annoying how thin skinned people are these days and how much they can get done with their weak sensibilities.

 

[jokingbird]

Here is from 6 years ago when he apologized for the tweets, which shows you this is nothing new.

At least he was nice going out

 

[DeepEnigma]

Here is from 6 years ago when he apologized for the tweets, which shows you this is nothing new.

At least he was nice going out

What a clusterfuck this whole situation is.

 

[Gander]

What a clusterfuck this whole situation is.

To be honest I wasn't rooting for the guy to lose his job but I did want to see Guardians of the Galaxy go in a different direction tonely.

 

[quickwhips]

#metoo Brought some good but a lot of bad but James fucked up let’s burn him down like all the rest. Ant man was fine and guardians will be also.

 

[DryvBy]

Here is from 6 years ago when he apologized for the tweets, which shows you this is nothing new.

At least he was nice going out

That just shows you how much stuff has changed since then.

 

[Chiggs]

Why anyone continues to use Twitter is beyond me. If you are a public figure and you continue to use the platform, whatever happens to you is your own fault.

Daily Caller just checkmated Disney too.

 

[Airola]

Great, we can stop bringing up "grab her by the pussy" since that was 13 years ago and an edgy joke said in private.

Yes, we can and yes we should. If a thing you did more than 10 years ago hasn't got anything to do with what you are doing now, it should mean nothing. I could understand using a history of crimes as an evidence of a person not being fit to something but shitty jokes and having a bad mouth shouldn't have anything to do with where the person is today.

 

[MrHeisenbird]

The only way my stance will change on this is if he is a proven pedophile.

You guys remember what due process is right? Right?

 

[cryptoadam]

In this climate DO NOT EXPECT your employeer to stand up for you. Black or White, rich or poor doesn't matter.

To a company someone with 12 twitter followers is a bigger concern than your job.

 

[Horsemama1956]

Yes, we can and yes we should. If a thing you did more than 10 years ago hasn't got anything to do with what you are doing now, it should mean nothing. I could understand using a history of crimes as an evidence of a person not being fit to something but shitty jokes and having a bad mouth shouldn't have anything to do with where the person is today.

Of course it should. No reason to act like an idioit in the first place. How someone wouldn't think post like this could bite them in the ass like this is beyond me.

Make the jokes with your inner circle not on fucking Twitter. Also just saying you're joking doesn't make it so.

 

[Gandara]

If you don't succeeded, try try again. Seems odd that this is a repeat of 6 years ago. Why is it being brought up again? When I started to see this pop up in YouTube, I thought it was something recent, not something from 10 years ago and something that was already brought up. Is there any evidence he's that type of person now? Seems like people love not letting people move on.

 

[KevinKeene]

Fuck the auth left and their outrage culture, this is on them. It's gross how polygin and resetera are attempting to fault 'the alt right' for his termination. Without the auth left's bs outrage culture, nobody would be getting fired over some tweets. This is so ridiculous. They celebrate when someone they hate is fired, but cry when it hits someone they like. Absolute hypocrisy.

Here is from 6 years ago when he apologized for the tweets, which shows you this is nothing new.

At least he was nice going out

I hate how accepting he is of this bs decision. Just once I wish someone would fight back. They'd have all the justification in the world.

 

[Airola]

This is insane because anyone who is familiar with Gunn's previous B-movie work knows this is his kind of humor.

Oh wow! Didn't know he did Troma movies too :O
He wrote Tromeo & Juliet (1996) which I remember was pretty funny. There was this bit where Juliet had a nightmare and woke up shouting and his father(?) came and said something like "I bet you dreamed about anal sex" which was the most random, crude and surprising thing I had ever heard at that point in my life and I couldn't help but laugh. Today, kids are constantly hearing the AVGN and others say even cruder and way more disgusting things.

 

[Pumpkin Seeds]

Cernovich is making the decision to turn the left's outrage mob into a mutually assured destruction scenario. This isn't a principled stance. It's not free expression leaning. It's a move in the culture war.

 

[captainraincoat]

I think the whole lets dig up dumb shit you said or did 10 years ago or more trend is getting pretty fucking sad
I have said some dumb shit on the internet in the past but have learned the error of my ways and become more open and mindful of others and their views as it usually takes a slapdown to learn these things

The early days of social media nobody knew what the fuck it was or how to use it properly so there are lots of great examples of "Look maaa im drunk and posting on the internet"..or "Nazis are Cool"......."Feminists are fat"
and then 10 years later someone digs that shit up and serves it up on social media for all to consume like it happened yesterday and probably the most concerning thing that people have mentioned is that there is no jury....no trial...no need for proof you are guilty.

 

[Gander]

These tweets maybe be 10 years old but what does time have to do with it. When was it ever acceptable to joke about being a pedophile, raping women or hating on Jews and Mexicans?

 

[Dunki]

I am sorry but no one should be fired for stupid tweets Not him not Rosanne no one. They are just puppets in this stupid culture war. And everytime the other side gets someone fired they try to defend it while in the same time trying to get other people fired for shit they said. (AKA Patrick Klepek as example) I am so sick of this bullshit to be honest. these are fucking jokes people need to relax and not take everything seriously the other despised side does.

These tweets maybe be 10 years old but what does time have to do with it. When was it ever acceptable to joke about being a pedophile, raping women or hating on Jews and Mexicans?

Since forever they are jokes. Here extra for you. a Joke about raping children.

 

[Makariel]

When was it ever acceptable to joke about being a pedophile, raping women or hating on Jews and Mexicans?

 

[Gander]

Here is the thing whole other side to this people wonder there is need for people to say offensive things. People wondering why they can't use the N-word, REALLY want to use it. Why is that? These people that have the need to say offensive things want to put the blame on society is too wound up.

There are hundreds of other directors that didn't have to delete any tweets because never had the need to say stupid shit in the first place.

People need to stop pointing the fingering at society and take ownership. It's you, something is wrong with you that you want to say these things.

 

[Harlock]

Half of Hollywood are going to spend the night deleting old tweets.

 

[Arkage]

Say stupid shit on twitter, prepare for consequences.

When it's someone on the left, the left howls injustice, and when it's someone on the right, the right howls injustice.

 

[Airola]

He has no history of satire or comedy like say Ricky Gervais or Chappelle

You are wrong. He made movies for Troma. He began his career by writing and directing movies filled with crude humor.

Of course it should. No reason to act like an idioit in the first place. How someone wouldn't think post like this could bite them in the ass like this is beyond me.

Make the jokes with your inner circle not on fucking Twitter. Also just saying you're joking doesn't make it so.

You are saying this as if in 2008 and 2009 everyone knew how things will be in 2018. Obviously he didn't care if someone saw those jokes. Obviously people didn't really even care about those jokes back then. They were there for all to read. It wasn't a problem.

Sure there is no reason to act like an idiot, but up until the last few years acting like an idiot hasn't been an unforgivable thing, especially if it didn't happen recently. Now it is and your mistakes 10-20 years ago could cost you your job. Those jokes were buried in his Twitter. They didn't hurt anyone there. No-one thought about them. They were a thing of past. Those jokes STILL harm no-one even when they are now exposed. This is as victimless crime as it gets.

He has made movies with mutant penises. He has made movies with people getting killed in all kinds of messy ways. He has made movies with lots of inappropriate sexual situations in them. He has made movies with the types of jokes he wrote on twitter. If those movies are out in the open in movies anyone can buy, why should he worry about some simple jokes staying on Twitter? His former employee, Troma, made Troma's War with both AIDS and rape jokes in it (Gunn wasn't part of it though). He has lived over 20 years living by knowing the movies he was part of are out there. It hasn't really troubled him. He probably was and still is fan of Troma's early movies like The Toxic Avenger (that movie has a gang that drives over a kid, then put the car on reverse and drive over him again, then they take pictures of the kid and a female member of the gang masturbates while watching the pictures - and The Toxic Avenger comes and kills her - and people rightfully didn't take it seriously and knew they were just trying to go for a shock value while making jokes). And now Gunn should be shamed he was an idiot and wrote some crude jokes on Twitter 10 years ago...

It's gross how polygin and resetera are attempting to fault 'the alt right' for his termination.

They are not completely wrong though. This definitely escalated also because of the "no, YOU are" mentality that is running rampant in both the left and the right circles. When the right calls the left snowflakes, the left start using it like "no, YOU'RE the real snowflake!" And when the left calss the right fascists, the right starts to say things like "no, actually YOU are the fascists here." And they will turn every stone possible to find things that prove the other side are hypocrites.

Some people on the right are absolutely ecstatic about the fact that they can use this to call ABC hypocrites. They are essentially calling out ABC for not being consistent with their policies when they fucked Roseanne over if they stay silent about Gunn's situation.

While the "left side" is clearly the major reason why situations like this even exist, the right side are not helping at all when they want to see the left getting to taste their own medicine.

 

[Nintendo Switch]

Toungue in cheekingly blaming mexicans for burning his tongue on an enchilada is considered racist now?

Are people really that dense?

 

[way more]

Time to boycott all Disney movies for shamefully pandering to the Alt-right.


Right guys? We're totally going to stop watching Marvel movies, totes!

 

[Dunki]

Here is the thing whole other side to this people wonder there is need for people to say offensive things. People wondering why they can't use the N-word, REALLY want to use it. Why is that? These people that have the need to say offensive things want to put the blame on society is too wound up.

There are hundreds of other directors that didn't have to delete any tweets because never had the need to say stupid shit in the first place.

People need to stop pointing the fingering at society and take ownership. It's you, something is wrong with you that you want to say these things.

THe thing is that people want other people get fired because they are on the other side not because of their own moral or societies moral. The first people on the left like a oswalt or Klepek now try to defend Gunn while they called for the firing of other people for less offensive shit but too bad they were on the other political side. I am just really tired of all this bullshit and no one should get fired for fucking tweets not Rosanne not Gunn no one as long they do not encourage to kill or encourage to violence.

 

[RokkanStoned]

Just noticed this through the other thread. My response (slightly edited to fit the larger scope in this context):

It was clearly a joke, the whole structure of it was a typical oven/shower, rape or pedeophilia punchline joke you'll see. Dark humor, but the context is obviously a joke, meaning that at least in my view I don't see the big deal with it. Jokes playing on absurd negative concepts has been previously accepted as just jokes. In this case grabbing 10 year old tweets of jokes seem like a big stretch to generate outrage over.
I don't think most people in Hollywood cares that much and I think they mostly understand that it's a joke. This feels like modern outrage trying to make a big deal of something that's clearly a joke and is more a sign of our current times and the reactive environment instead. Do we have any information showing that he's being completely blacklisted?

 

[Makariel]

Here is the thing whole other side to this people wonder there is need for people to say offensive things. People wondering why they can't use the N-word, REALLY want to use it. Why is that? These people that have the need to say offensive things want to put the blame on society is too wound up.

Where did James Gunn he use the n-word? Where did he blame anything on society? He apologised. Six years ago.

 

[Barsinister]

This is some public outrage, maybe some professional too.

For context:

There is a thought I have been brewing. I almost want to start a new thread about it. I will place it here, as I can see how it connects to the issue at hand. The way I see it, there are three types of offense. There is personal offense. There is public offense. And the third is professional offense. I will break down each one.

Personal offense is when someone in one's vicinity, be it in real life or like here; On a message board where one is able to respond to the poster personally, like with a private message. These kinds of offenses are private and one will let the individual know it. Ex. I type something here that bothers you and you message me to let me know. If I have any empathy, I will let you know I am sorry. If I have a sense of decency, I will announce it openly that I am sorry for what I said or did. I won't mention you personally when I make it public that I was wrong. I will keep your confiding in me between us, unless you say otherwise. This is the best kind of offense.

Public offense is when one is offended for an invisible person that may or may not exist. One is not offended themselves, but just in case there MIGHT be an offended party somewhere, they will let the individual know. These will always be announced to as many people will hear. Sometimes things will be taken out of context, if it means that there might be a bigger offense being done. Most people look at is a whining. It used to rarely be effective, but has been gaining steam for a while now. Monty Python dealt with a whole lot of public offense with their movie "Life of Brian". This kind of offense has its place, but is more often unhelpful to anyone.

Professional offense is just like public offense except someone's making money off the alleged offense. Ex. YouTube.

I think most of us on here like to talk in an abstracted way about the issues brought up on here. Like we are doing experiments in some kind of clean room. An individual's rights seems to be something of a topic that is most likely to be abstracted. This is a sure fire way to bring about a whole ton of public offense. Our kind host suffered greatly from public offense. And, a little bit of professional offense, too!

 

[Gander]

Where did James Gunn he use the n-word? Where did he blame anything on society? He apologised. Six years ago.

I'm talking about a mindset of people that say horrible things and just think life is going to go on normal for them no hiccups.

 

[Zog]

You have to be stupid if you are posting anything controversial on social media today. Hell, you shouldn't post anything since you don't know what will become controversial in the future.

 

[Dunki]

This is some public outrage, maybe some professional too.

For context:

Of course it is. Just look how old these tweets are.....

But it is really interesting to see who now defends Gunn while other times called for people to get fired. This stupid culture war... We should put everyone on the left and right in a Ring and the last one who survives gets a one way ticket to mars.

 

[Queso de Grande]

Jesus, burn down all social media. It is ruining the whole damn world. This stuff is get ridiculous. Getting fired for a joke from a decade ago is straight bullshit.

 

[Airola]

When was it ever acceptable to joke about being a pedophile, raping women or hating on Jews and Mexicans?

How do you feel about this:


Or this:


The latter one is a famous joke that is supposed to be as disgusting as possible and it has been going on forever in comedian circles. The comedians are supposed to tell their own version of the joke but it should follow the basic premise of a family going to a talent agency where they do disgusting things and finally say the name of the act is "The Aristocrats."

Here's a wiki page of the joke:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aristocrats

Here's the imdb page for a 2005 documentary about it:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436078/

 

[Makariel]

I'm talking about a mindset of people that say horrible things and just think life is going to go on normal for them no hiccups.

What has that to do with the topic at hand? Nobody here argued for the use of the n-word, or did I miss a post? But nice straw man you're building there.

You might have encountered the idea of redemption (idea common in societies who have some Christian roots from what I heard), that people can learn from their mistakes in the past and be given a chance to do better? If he would have said "f*** ya all" after being called out 6 years ago, I would be more inclined to agree with you. But in this case he apologised and things should have moved on IMO. Or would you also be in favor of arresting people again who just got out of prison, just because we might have changed our mind about their wrongdoing?

 

[captainraincoat]

These tweets maybe be 10 years old but what does time have to do with it. When was it ever acceptable to joke about being a pedophile, raping women or hating on Jews and Mexicans?

You never said a dumb thing before that you regret when you were younger??

Christ if I was on Twitter in my tweens and people read what I thought they would picture me in an ss uniform riding on top of a chariot of feminists whipping a gay man as a horse ...but luckily I wasn't and I learned about how wrong I was to talk about people like that and it was purely down to lack of life experience.

Unfortunately social media is a record of your dumb stuff and people ignore that time changes people and as I mentioned 10 years ago nobody had filters on their thoughts...they just posted it

Myself today would find jokes like that in bad taste but there is nothing pointing towards him being that same person today...he seems very eccentric in his medium and his style is definitely different....but I don't think he deserves the witch hunt that this is.....this is the second time they have dug this shit up and he has apologized on it before

 

[JimmyJones]

James Gunn absolutely BTFO. If people like the resetards want to destroy peoples lives over stupid shit they've said in the past, then we will fight fire with fire.

 

[Gander]

James Gunn absolutely BTFO. If people like the resetards want to destroy peoples lives over stupid shit they've said in the past, then we will fight fire with fire.

1. He is a millionaire his life is not destroyed
2. Saying things like he said are unacceptable
3. He admitted he was in the wrong.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

You have to be stupid if you are posting anything controversial on social media today. Hell, you shouldn't post anything since you don't know what will become controversial in the future.

Please read more than two words of the OP ffs

 

[Zog]

3. He admitted he was in the wrong.

Admitting you are wrong in 2018 is meaningless. It's the first step to saving a career and reputation.

 

[Kacho]

LMFAO at those heinous tweets, I mean “jokes.” Knee slappers total.

 

[MrRogers]

This authoritarian outrage culture that was started by the left/progressives (never forget that) has turned into a weapon of mutual destruction and no one is safe. It will continue until public figures (hell anybody really) delete their social media or until everyone talks in such bland watery nothingness that no one will ever be offended again, which techincally is not possible, so shut it all down, or let everything be allowed. I tend to think the real pyschopaths and deviants in popular culture keep all their sick crimes and thoughts to themselves, because they actually have something to hide. The authoritarian outrage police are snagging only the unaware and harmless people who said stupid shit sometime between their birth and now.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Admitting you are wrong in 2018 is meaningless. It's the first step to saving a career and reputation.

Again with zero reading comprehension - he apologized 6 years ago too!

 

[Mohonky]

Since some of us dont live in the twitter sphere (and apparently some really shouldnt) whats the context to all of this 'played by the alt right' comments?

I assume someone who had a grudge against the guy dug this up?

 

[Fox Mulder]

These tweets maybe be 10 years old but what does time have to do with it. When was it ever acceptable to joke about being a pedophile, raping women or hating on Jews and Mexicans?

It was fine a few years ago as edgy jokes. Everyone has thin skin now and get outraged at anything.

 

[Gander]

I mean it's not really an outrage. Most legit jobs don't allow you to shoot off your mouth about crazy shit.

I mean if you work at Merrill Lynch and your in the lunch room loud talking about how many Mexican maids you've banged you might get fired.

If you post on Reddit how you'd like to fist your boss, yep you might get fired.