When the news came down Friday that James Gunn had been fired from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, I was stunned. I follow Gunn on Twitter, so I was vaguely aware of the non-controversy of his old Tweets getting dragged up again. Even knowing that, I didn't think there was a chance on this planet or any other that he would be fired by Disney.
I was wrong.
I'm not going to say with any certainty if it was the wrong thing to do, firing Gunn. Personally, I'm not sure I would've done it, but I can actually follow Disney's train of thought here. After all, some of his ill-advised Tweets proved to be a lot worse than I thought. (Seriously, probably don't click on this link since the language is pretty rough and frequently offensive...but I'm providing it so people can decide for themselves based on Gunn's remarks).
Let me make a pretty big caveat here, of course. If it is ever proven that Gunn is actually a pedophile and not someone who was just being (imprudently) provocative with his Tweets, then obviously I would rescind any semblance of support.
What I can say definitively at this moment is that I respect Gunn as a storyteller and filmmaker, but he has been rather cavalier with his words on social media.
Over the last few months, Gunn has allowed himself to get swept away in the liberal frenzy on social media and has recently taken to calling anyone who disagrees with him some pretty unsavory names. I have no problem with someone disagreeing with me about politics, and I don't mind them voicing their opinion. What bothered me was that Gunn kept using some pretty harsh language to respond to the idiots who were trying to engage him in political arguments.
As the saying goes, "Win stupid games, get stupid prizes." Gunn's language was bordering on bullying just so he could win a political argument with the dredges of society on the worst possible forum for such a debate.
And in the end, it was this provocation that ruined him. Is it any surprise that Gunn's old Tweets were exposed by ultra-conservatives looking to knock him down a few pegs? Not on my end. It's the same tactic that ultra-liberals are using to demonize their enemies, and everyone seems okay with it "in the name of the cause."
So to summarize where we're at so far:
- James Gunn said some provocative things on Twitter several years ago.
- Conservative mouth breathers brought those Tweets to the surface recently in hopes to get Gunn fired and to shut him down.
- Disney, upon seeing some truly detestable comments made by their golden boy, had no choice but to fire Gunn from his lofty place in the Marvel Studios upper echelon.
Again, I'm not here to defend Gunn. I want to. I so badly want to, because I admire him as a storyteller and I want him to be a hunky-dory guy, but I can't. Look, I don't like these sorts of weapons being wielded for political gain, but I also have a hard time turning a blind eye to jokes that make light of pedophilia, rape, and other such sensitive topics. At least not with that frequency. There's just too many of them.
What I am here to say is as simple as the title to this post: Don't say dumb stuff.
When Gunn first started out in the film industry, he was making bizarre little esoteric films for an off-brand studio that specialized in the strange and borderline offensive. His audience was a couple hundred thousand at most. He could say whatever he wanted on social media and those folks would've eaten it up because they were all about shock comedy.
Seriously. This was a very weird movie.
Then he started making his own movies. Then he got involved with the Scooby-Doo movie where Scrappy-Doo was the villain wearing a Rowan Atkinson skin suit. Again, the guy makes bizarre movies.
From there, Gunn's profile exploded. Admittedly, none of his Tweets are older than Scooby-Doo, since that movie came out in 2002. But you see my point, right? His time on Twitter started long before Guardians of the Galaxy made him a household name, and when he started he was still living in the relative anonymity of a writer for strange movies.
In Gunn's mind, nobody was ever going to see those Tweets. They just weren't. Even if the stated idea was to be a "provocateur" who gained attention with his outlandish remarks, he never expected to have the type of audience he eventually did.
When that audience finally came, Gunn seems to have abandoned the more offensive remarks and stayed with the mundane.
But it was too late. The internet is forever, so what you say sticks around.
While I hate what happened to Gunn, and while I am nervous that Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 will never live up to the previous entries without Gunn at the helm, there's no denying that what happened to Gunn is largely his own fault.
If you don't say dumb stuff, people can't use the dumb stuff you say against you.
We've all seen people lie in order to get their way. People will stretch the truth or even make things up whole cloth. You know what? Let them.
If someone has to lie to have dirt on you, that's all the better. Don't make it easy for them by saying something positive about rape or pedophilia. (I'm of course generalizing here, but taking those as specific guidelines isn't bad advice, either.)
Gunn made it far too easy, 10 years in the past, to give his accusers the proof they needed.
One rule I've always held to over the entirety of my journalism career is that I won't lie just for the sake of a hot take or for more clicks. If I put something out there, you had better believe that it's my genuine opinion.
Now I'm not stupid. When I wrote my piece on Mark Richt last week, or when I wrote "Quit Lying About the Bible" a couple months ago, I knew that those would be somewhat provocative pieces. I knew that they would welcome a certain amount of attention and would garner a few clicks.
I even famously wrote a column in the newspaper once calling out a local high school football team for recruiting players and ruining the sport. We got more than 2,500 clicks on that column, which was exciting.
But I can honestly say that I did not write on those topics just for the sake of getting clicks. I picked those topics for a whole host of reasons, largely stemming from the simple fact that those were my opinions that I felt like needed to be addressed at the time.
I would like to say that this is an embellishment...but it's not.
Now that's not to say that I've never made jokes on Twitter or Facebook. I am quite the huckster, after all. And it's not like every joke I've ever made has been rooted in truth. That would make for some pretty bland material.
But that's where the rule of not saying dumb things comes into play.
I've made plenty of dumb jokes in my day, but they're the kind people groan about. Not the kind that they gather their pitchforks over.
When your entire goal is to provoke people and to say outrageous things, be prepared for the backlash. If you can't handle the inevitable firestorm that is coming your way for those types of statements, don't do it.
Since writing about Richt last week, I've been engaged with more than a couple people who disagree. Vehemently. And that's okay, because I stand by my comments and I respect their right to disagree (especially when their violent disagreement further proves the entire point I was trying to make).
When I wrote about that football team, the former coach's dad demanded an audience with my publisher and me where he forcefully requested a retraction. We sat with him, we talked with him for close to an hour, but we didn't grant him his retraction because, once again, I stood by my comments. I didn't have to be ashamed of what I said because I had said it honestly and in earnest. Not just to be inflammatory.
What's more, I once lost a job opportunity because I had a passage of scripture in my e-mail signature. I contacted the owner of an Atlanta publishing company asking if he would have any openings for someone like me looking to learn the industry, and he flatly told me that he wouldn't hire someone who quoted the Bible. Seriously.
I'm fine with that. I'd rather know going in that someone's a bigot with such an openly violent attitude towards Christians.
Oh, and I still have that same passage of scripture in my signature.
If you're looking to have an audience, that's great. Good for you. But don't attract an audience at the expense of your integrity. You can never know how much that is worth until it's gone.
When I was younger and social media first started becoming a thing to contend with, my parents were pretty strict about what I could say. I mean...I was in college at the time, so it's not like I had to listen, but they were pretty insistent.
I only remember one joke I made on Twitter (and quickly deleted) that was pretty bad. I shouldn't have said it, even if it was funny, and my parents were right to lay into me for that one.
Even though I hardly ever said anything that truly deserved their ire, I am ultimately thankful for the guidance I received in that regard. (Don't tell them I said that.)
Then again...it could get you elected President.
So let me be that voice of reason for you. If you're ever tempted to say anything just for the sake of the audience, maybe check that it isn't something that could cost you a multi-million dollar dream job about a decade later.
Header Photo Sources:
Baby Groot from: HDQWalls.com
James Gunn photo from: TheVerge.com, photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images.