Selma Blair Calls On Disney’s Marvel To Rehire James Gunn: “This Man Is One Of The Good Ones”

Selma Blair, who last year detailed to Vanity Fair the sexual harassment she faced in auditioning for filmmaker James Toback, has tweeted her support to James Gunn, encouraging her followers to sign a Change.org petition to have the filmmaker re-hired on Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and exclaiming, “This man is one of the good ones.”

Gunn was fired swiftly by Disney on Friday after Fox News and other right-wing media outlets unearthed some old social media posts from the filmmaker on subjects that touched on rape and pedophilia. Gunn claimed that the old tweets were just taboo jokes. Conservative media resurfaced Gunn’s old posts in an effort to knock him down since he’s an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

In the first of two tweets Saturday (see them below), Blair said: “@JamesGunn I thank you for your talent, your decency and your evolution as a man. You propped me up when I was in a scary place, and guided me towards the decent and right thing to do. You have shown strength of character more than most anyone I know. You understood.”

In the second tweet, Blair said: “Marvel: RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN – Sign the Petition! chn.ge/2JIuUrB via @Change Because if people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones.”

Director Joe Carnahan shared the petition yesterday and since then it has amassed more than 64K signatures.

When Blair was weighing the decision to share her claims about Toback harassing her 19 years ago, she credited Gunn and Doctor Strange writer-director Scott Derrickson as two men who “reached out and said how important it was to be on this side of history,” the Hellboy actress told THR. Gunn praised Blair on Facebook following the Vanity Fair piece, saying: “For my money, Selma Blair is a hero. I know she in no way WANTED to have to come forward with this story, but she still did it. Most of these women (and, yes, some men) have nothing to gain by telling their stories — about Toback, about Weinstein, about O’Reilly, about Cosby, and about the others yet to come. They do it for the sake of others, for the future, and for justice.”

RelatedDave Bautista Stands For Felled ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’s James Gunn As Free Speech Chill Sets Into Hollywood

Since Gunn’s firing from the Marvel threequel, which he reportedly penned and was set to go into production on in the fall, Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista tweeted out his defense of Gunn yesterday saying, “I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving, caring, good-natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what’s happening to him.”

The filmmaker’s brother Sean Gunn, who also appeared in GOTG, expressed his love in a series of tweets, saying: “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… 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).”

In addition, Gunn’s Troma Studios mentor Lloyd Kaufman posted the following on Instagram:

Instagram Photo
Instagram Photo

Blair’s tweets are below.

 

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