It’s been over a week since Disney fired James Gunn (screenwriter and director of Marvel Studio’s highly successful Guardians of the Galaxy movie franchise) because of some genuinely horrible tweets from his past.
And while I was initially reluctant to offer my two cents, I’ve been a more than a little surprised by the opposition Disney’s decision has been getting. Especially from people who cheered (or at least supported) the House of the Mouse for firing Roseanne Barr a few months ago for her own stupidity on Twitter.
Odds are you’ve probably already chosen a moral side and nothing myself or anyone else says will change your mind one way or another. Many have taken to social media to defend either Disney’s decision or Gunn himself. The entire GoTG cast recently took to social media to support him and there’s even a fan petition making the rounds demanding that Disney rehire him.
The usual online political flame wars have ignited as well, with many on the left (who cheered Barr’s firing) coming to Gunn’s defence while many on the right (who were threatening to boycott Disney for firing Roseanne last spring) are thumping their chests and making speeches about karma.
Any cyber forum discussing Gunn’s firing disintegrates into name calling and “what aboutism” in about three seconds flat. Most commenters wind up arguing along preferred political lines.
Yet all of their arguments miss the point entirely.
Like the decision to cancel Barr’s highly successful reboot a few months ago, this was a purely business decision by Disney (arguably the largest entertainment company on the planet, even before their impending purchase of 20th Century Fox).
The preamble to this story is almost an epic tale in and of itself. Gunn had become an outspoken critic of the Trump administration and a champion of America’s progressive left. He called out both the administration’s policies (like the situation on the U.S-Mexico border) as well as the President’s unconventional, often bombastic behaviour. He regularly clashed with the political far-right on gun control, immigration, history and even civility.
And it would be those clashes that would be his downfall.
Far right provocateur and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich (who was accused of rape in 2003-and later plead down to battery, participated in the Gamergate nightmare, almost singlehandedly launched Pizzagate and is a general source of racism, misogyny and toxicity online) dug up Gunn’s old tweets and made sure they flooded every corner of social media. It was only a matter of time before they showed up on Disney’s radar, despite a general aversion by the mainstream media.
(In the MSM’s defence, not only is Cernovich guilty of the above but he has also launched campaigns of harassment against established journalists. So you can imagine why they would want to avoid anything with his fingerprints on it).
Given how much I enjoyed the Guardians movies and how much I loathe Cernovich, you’d think I would side with Gunn. But I have to stand with Disney on this.
Regardless what you think of Gunn, his work, his politics or Cernovich (who is a genuinely reprehensible human being), you have to admit that the tweets in question were beyond disgusting and they are what this whole thing comes back to.
What every one sees to be missing in this equation is that Disney is a multi-billion, multinational corporation that has spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars crafting a very specific, very family friendly brand. Sure they have a lot of social skeletons in their closet (like, a lot) but Mickey has owned up to some (though admittedly not enough) and has recently become a champion of diversity. Whether it be through their various movie brands, TV properties and other mediums, Disney has been at the forefront of racial and cultural inclusion in entertainment-sometimes to its own detriment.
With that in mind, imagine the optics of knowingly keeping a film-maker who tweeted about rape and pedophilia in charge of one of your hottest movie properties; a property that has been branded as “family-friendly?”
That isn’t to justify some bad behaviour from Disney, but it adds a little context to their current dilemma.
Not only is Disney responsible to thousands of politically sensitive shareholders, but there’s a very good chance it will be appearing before a Congressional body or two seeking approval for its recently approved purchase of Fox. Gunn would be a very large, very dark cloud hanging over its head (especially given the American government’s recent attempts to block the merger between rival studio Warner Bros. and AT&T).
Disney didn’t want to cancel Roseanne months ago, but few other companies in the world can measure the pulse of the public as well as Disney (take a look at this year’s biggest box office performers if you have any doubts). They measured the fallout of every possible action before moving swiftly and decisively.
This was no different.
And could you imagine the howls from Conservative America accusing Disney of hypocrisy if they had let Gunn-who mused in one particularly abhorrent tweet that he was so sexually excited watching The Expendables that he wanted to have violent sex with the boy sitting beside him-off with a slap on the wrist after firing Roseanne? The fact is Disney set a precedent when they sent Barr packing and they’re setting another one here; that no one is above the rules regardless of their earning power or personal politics.
If you agreed with Barr’s firing, you have no choice but to agree with this decision. If you disagreed with it, Gunn’s firing still proves Disney isn’t guilty of having double standards.
(To his credit, Gunn is acting with as much dignity as someone fired for such questionable tweets can. He is owning his foolishness, has apologized to both Disney and his fans and has quietly slipped from the public eye.)
But remember, just like Roseanne’s cancellation this not an easy decision for Disney. The Guardians of the Galaxy brand was one of Marvel’s biggest, the third (and final) film was supposed to begin shooting this fall and there were whispers that Gunn could be handed the reins to a sizeable portion of the MCU following the Russo brothers exit next year.
In other words, just like Roseanne (not to mention firing Pixar founder and head John Lassetter), this move will not only hurt Disney but will also seriously complicate the company’s life for the foreseeable future.
All of which proves the strength of Mickey’s conviction, whether you agree with his decisions or not.
Image Via thetimes.co.uk
