The "Guardians of the Galaxy" has found a new mission, and it has nothing to do with Thanos.
On Monday, assorted cast members turned to social media to share an open letter calling for the reinstatement of the franchise's director, James Gunn, who was fired by Walt Disney Co. on July 20.
"Although I don't support James Gunn's inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man," "Guardians" star Chris Pratt wrote on Instagram, his first official comment on Disney's decision.
"I'd personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3. If you please, read the following statement- signed by our entire cast," he continued.
Pratt's language can be seen echoed in postings by fellow cast mates, suggesting a standardized comment aimed at distancing themselves from Gunn's previous actions.
Gunn was fired after some years-old tweets resurfaced featuring the director joking about topics including rape, pedophilia, 9/11 and the Holocaust.
During the fallout, Gunn apologized for being a different person in the past.
"Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo," he wrote. "As I have discussed publicly many times, as I've developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.... I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don't anymore."
The open letter from the cast admonishes the lack of due process in the court of public opinion, in addition to repeating the actors' love and support for their director.
"We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen and discuss," the letter opens.
"In that time, we've been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3 as well as discouraged by those so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding him."
It adds, "We hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponizing mob mentality."
The open letter went out across Instagram and Twitter from a number of "Guardians" cast members, including Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker and Pom Klementieff. Bradley Cooper also signed the letter, but appeared to lack the social media profiles to share it.
