Dave Bautista, Kurt Russell defend ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ director James Gunn

A NUMBER of stars from the film franchise have spoken out in defence of James Gunn who was fired after offensive tweets resurfaced.

KURT Russell is the latest star to defend James Gunn after the Guardians Of The Galaxy director was fired from the Marvel franchise over resurfaced offensive tweets from 2009 that joked about rape and paedophilia.

“It’s sad,” Russell, who starred as Ego in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, told Variety. “But it’s a part of our fabric now, and I get it. But I do think we’re getting a little too sensitive on maybe some of the wrong people.”

Kurt Russell as Ego.

Dave Bautista, Gunn’s most vocal defender, also spoke out once more over the weekend.

“I will do what I’m legally obligated to do, but @Guardians without @JamesGunn is not what I signed up for,” Bautista, 49, tweeted to a fan Sunday. “‘GOTG’ w/o @JamesGunn just isn’t ‘GOTG.’ It’s also pretty nauseating to work for someone who’d empower a smear campaign by fascists #cybernazis. That’s just how I feel.”

The former MMA fighter previously called out “cybernazis” for attacking Gunn, 52, for his nearly decade-old tweets.

In an interview with Shortlist, Bautista added he’d be willing to drop out of the movie if Disney ditch Gunn’s script for the movie.

“Nobody’s defending his tweets, but this was a smear campaign on a good man,” Bautista said.

“I spoke to Chris Pratt the day after it happened, and he’s a bit religious, so he wanted time to pray and figure it out, but I was more like: ‘f**k this. This is bullsh*t.’ James is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve met … Where I’m at right now is that if [Marvel] don’t use that script, then I’m going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me. I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.”

Dave Bautista is willing to walk away from the film franchise.

The Guardians Of The Galaxy cast previously signed an open letter to Disney urging the company to reinstate Gunn to direct the third instalment of the hit comic book franchise.

Fellow stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana also spoke out in support of Gunn.

However, sources told Variety that it’s unlikely that the family-friendly corporation would rehire Gunn, despite the cast’s urgings, a Change.org petition and his own apologies.

More than 240,000 people have signed a petition for Disney to rehire Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise director James Gunn.

This originally appeared on New York Post and is republished with permission.