James Gunn Defends Chris Pratt Against Twitter’s Cancel Culture

Once again, actor Chris Pratt’s name is trending on Twitter as a contingent of Marvel fans pushes for the actor to be removed from his role in the upcoming Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy movies due to his Christian identity.

The latest social media wave seems to have been sparked by the release of the latest trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, which Pratt shared on Twitter in the voice of his Marvel character Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord.

Showtime A-holes!!! So excited to finally share a bit of what the Guardians were up to down under. Thrilled to join @chrishemsworth and @TaikaWaititi on this journey. Trust me it is going to blow you away. Coming to you July 8th @MarvelStudios @ThorOfficial #ThorLoveAndThunder pic.twitter.com/tUF8fI4VZv

— Chris Pratt (@prattprattpratt) April 18, 2022

Reports claim that their desire to have Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son-in-law canceled is due to the fact he belongs to a church with “homophobic” ideals. Despite there being no evidence of Pratt ever saying anything homophobic, the angry contingent is set on making their voices heard, with one person suggesting they replace him with Patrick Wilson.

A few days later, Guardians director James Gunn jumped in to defend his star, saying,

For what? Because of your made-up, utterly-false beliefs about him? For something that someone else told you about him that’s not true? Chris Pratt would never be replaced as Star-Lord but, if he ever was, we would all be going with him.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1518621994429784065?s=20&t=ao9XIkx0H-YCD6uvi9Wr6g

Gunn addressed the “homophobic” and “anti-LGBTQ+” accusations towards Pratt by bluntly saying,

He isn’t. I know the church he currently goes to. Do you? (The answer is you don’t, but you heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone where he goes to church, so decided, “yeah, okay, I’ll believe this terrible thing I heard online about this celebrity!”)

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1518635085943164928?s=20&t=ao9XIkx0H-YCD6uvi9Wr6g

Again, this is not the first time Pratt has faced persecution over social media for his religious beliefs, and some of the fans made it a point to call that out:

People want to cancel Chris Pratt for going to church but in the same breath support a giant megacorp who filmed propagando for a military regime right next to literal concentration camps https://t.co/7kYPdjaUsD

— B0l (@Bolverk15) April 25, 2022

https://twitter.com/Goths4Christ/status/1518575661992058880?s=20&t=ao9XIkx0H-YCD6uvi9Wr6g

So despite more calls for the man’s cancellations, Chris Pratt will be returning to the silver screen as Star-Lord for both Thor: Love and Thunder starring Chris Hemsworth and directed by Taika Waititi, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special directed by James Gunn.

Meanwhile, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is set to open at the Walt Disney World Resort next month.

Chris Pratt has years invested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having already played the role alongside a host of MCU stars from Dave Bautista to Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo. Outside of Marvel Studios, Pratt also starred in Disney Pixar’s Onward with Tom Holland as well as non-Disney-affiliated movies like Amazon’s Tomorrow War and Universal’s Jurassic World franchise.