Roseanne Barr Says She’s ‘Disgusted’ By James Gunn Defenders After ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Firing
Roseanne Barr responded to the James Gunn firing controversy after many drew parallels to her own firing from ABC network after she made racially offensive comments about former Obama aide Valarie Jarrett.
James Gunn was fired from Disney for decade-old tweets where he made offensive jokes about subjects like pedophilia and rape. Roseanne took to Twitter to express her disgust at the support Gunn is receiving and says that they are the same people who called for her to be fired.
“I’m disgusted to read all of the support for James Gunn’s pedophile jokes-as the same people supported blacklisting me for a joke they didn’t even understand.”
When compared to the Roseanne firing, defenders of James Gunn, such as articles from the National Review and Vulture, argued that there is a “difference between present and past speech.”
David French wrote on the National Review that “there’s no indication that he continues to ‘joke’ in the same manner.”
Vulture writer Mark Harris questioned whether Disney already knew about the former Guardian of the Galaxy directors’ old tweets. Harris notes that Roseanne’s offensive tweets, which resulted in her firing, were recent and was crossing a red line among several other offensive tweets.
Both James Gunn and Roseanne Barr apologized for their offensive tweets.
“My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,” Gunn said in an official statement. “I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.”
Gunn did not dispute his firing and took responsibility for his tweets from many years ago.
I’m disgusted to read all of the support for James Gunn’s pedophile jokes-as the same people supported blacklisting me for a joke they didn’t even understand.
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) July 24, 2018
Roseanne apologized for her racist remarks but continued to attack Valarie Jarret on social media. The 65-year-old also initially implied that the offensive tweet was a side effect of sedative Ambien. Barr later argued that she did not know that Jarret was black.
ICYMI: @therealroseanne wants to know why people are defending @JamesGunn but not herhttps://t.co/BfGErpMQQI
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) July 24, 2018
The comedian resurfaced on YouTube in a video in which she referred to Jarrett as a “bi**h” and yelled that she thought Jarrett “was white” when she posted her tweet.
Barr also stated that she was fired because she supported President Trump.
"Because if people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving?" https://t.co/SIuhfJQ9NA
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 24, 2018
The Guardian of the Galaxy cast, such as Dave Bautista, Chris Pratt, and Zoe Saldana sent out supportive messages after news broke about James Gunn’s firing. A petition to rehire Gunn has garnered over 260,000 signatures.
