Individual members of the cast of Guardians Of The Galaxy have already shared words of support for director James Gunn, who was fired by Disney after ultra conservatives unearthed the filmmaker’s decade-old distasteful joke tweets about pedophilia. The more than obvious lapse of time in between those tweets and the posts he makes now shows that he is a changed man. Plus, the number of apologizes he had made, both years ago and now, are proof enough that he realized that those jokes were poor taste.

Now that we’ve heard from various members of the cast, they have come together as a family to released a signed letter of support for Gunn asking that Disney reinstate him as director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. More on the story here below.

The letter, signed by stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, and Pom Klementieff, was posted to Chris Pratt’s official social media accounts, where he also shared a small blurb about not condoning Gunn’s original tweets while also putting in words of support and a request that he be reinstated.

“Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. 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.”

Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. 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.

A post shared by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Jul 30, 2018 at 9:41am PDT

Here’s the full statement just in case you cannot read the embed.

An Open Letter from the Cast of “Guardians of the Galaxy”

To our fans and friends:

We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss. In that time, we’ve been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of hehe 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.

Being in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies has been a great honor in each of our lives. We cannot let this moment pass without expressing our love, support, and gratitude for James. We are not here to defend his jokes of many years ago but rather to share our experience having spent many years together on set making Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2. The character he has shown in the wake of his firing is consistent with the man he was every day on set, and his apology, now and from years ago when first addressing these remarks, we believe is from the heart, a heart we all know, trust, and love. In casting each of us to help him tell the story of misfits who find redemption, he changed our lives forever. We believe the theme of redemption has never been more relevant than now.

Each of us looks forward to working with our friend James again in the future. His story isn’t over “” not by a long shot.

There is little due process in the court of public opinion. James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial. Given the growing political divide in this country, it’s safe to say instances like this will continue, although we hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponizing mob mentality.

It is our hope that what has transpired can serve as an example for all of us to realize the enormous responsibility we have to ourselves and to each other regarding the use of our written words when we etch them in digitial stone; that we as a society may learn from this experience and in the future will think twice before we decide what we want to express; and in so learning perhaps can harness this capability to help and heal instead of hurting each other. Than you taking the time to read our words.

The Guardians of the Galaxy,

[Printed names and signatures for Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker.]

Gunn was fired by Disney after an ultra conservative personality unearthed decade-old tweets in which James Gunn was joking about pedophilia. While these tweets are abhorrent, Gunn has apologized for them previously when other outlets have asked him about it, and he apologized for them once more after he was fired. However, this new letter of support is the first time that the cast have spoken out together against Gunn’s firing. It follows those aforementioned tweets as well as a petition that has gotten over 300,000 signatures to have Gunn return.

While it has been over a week since Gunn’s firing, it should be noted that Disney and Marvel have not shared a shortlist of any possible directors to replace the director, whose style was what gave Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 — both box office hits for the studio — its uniqueness. Perhaps it may be too early or they may be playing it very close to the vest. But some believe that it may be a sign that Gunn could be reinstated, this according to a report from Variety.

I for one do not agree with the decision to fire him, but fully understand that Disney had to make the move in order to protect their brand and not be seen as hypocrites. Still, I wished they had not overreacted or jumped the gun on the decision given the age of these tweets and that they knew about them before hiring him for the first movie. But the amount of support Gunn has gotten not only from within his own friends and family, but from the Marvel fan community shows that he deserves a second chance.

We’ll keep you posted if anything changes.