James Gunn is hired again to Guardians of the Galaxy 3

LOS ANGELES – Disney takes over James Gunn, the creative force behind his "Guardians of the Galaxy" film franchise, canceling his controversial decision in July to fire the filmmaker for offensive jokes written on Twitter several years ago.

Mr. Gunn's tweets, which wrote and directed the Marvel superhero movie "Guardians of the Galaxy" in 2014 and released a glittering sequel in 2017, contained jokes about pedophilia, AIDS, rape and the attacks of September 11, 2001. Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, two provocateurs of the far right, have thrown the spotlight on the comments – written between 2009 and 2012 – after Mr Gunn strongly criticized President Trump online.

Disney officials appeared to have acknowledged Friday that they had made a mistake by immediately dismissing Mr. Gunn following the incident: at the time, the "Guardians" cast members condemned the decision as an overreaction. to the "mentality of the crowd" of the Internet. . This reversal reflects at least the challenges that Hollywood studios face in the face of online fury over past behavior, in response to #MeToo and Time's Up movements, while trying to protect a billion-dollar movie properties. dollars.

Walt Disney Studios revealed the reinstatement of Mr. Gunn as director of "Guardians of the Galaxy 3" in an article on Deadline.com, a commercial news site. Disney declined to comment further, except to confirm the accuracy of the report. In a statement on Twitter, Mr Gunn said he was "incredibly humiliated" and "extremely grateful" to those who had supported him over the last few months.

"I am still learning and will continue to work to be the best possible human being," he wrote. "I deeply appreciate Disney's decision."

Alan F. Horn, president of Walt Disney Studios, decided to rehire Mr. Gunn – a few months ago – after a series of meetings with the director. Mr. Horn, who had contacted Mr. Gunn, was impressed by his public apology the day he was fired by Disney. Mr. Gunn has repeatedly assumed responsibility for his remarks, which he described as "stupid, not funny at all, fiercely insensitive and certainly not provocative as I had hoped."

"Whatever the time," he added, "I understand and accept the business decisions made today."

Mr. Gunn's response contrasted with the reaction of other stars in similar situations. Kevin Hart, for example, was initially defensive when his past The anti-gay comments on Twitter resurfaced in December after being nominated host of the broadcast of the Oscars. At first, Mr. Hart did not apologize, but rather posted a video in which he said, "Guys, I'm almost 40 years old. If you do not believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I do not know what to say to you. "

It was unclear to what extent Disney was influenced by the rollback of "Guardians" fans following the ousting of Mr. Gunn. Hundreds of thousands of people have signed a Change.org asks Disney to reconsider its decision.