U.S.A.! U.S.A.! vol. 135

Let’s get something straight: nobody involved in the principal anti-Gunn campaign was genuinely concerned about his tweets - at least, not some jokes he made years ago. These were members of the alt-right who hate the things Gunn tweets about Donald Trump. They’ve almost certainly made more offensive jokes than Gunn in their lives - hell, so has Trump, while holding the office of president. Gunn grew out of his edgelord phase into a more mature, empathetic filmmaker, while Trump supporters continue to cheer at their boy's sexual assault jokes and savor his racist invective. They hate that Gunn is no longer one of them, hate that he criticizes their beloved president, and hate that he’s a successful filmmaker - and their first instinct is to get him fired...One of the most visible advocates for Gunn’s dismissal, men's rights activist and all-around garbage person Mike Cernovich, has a history of running social media campaigns to ruin the careers of his (usually left-wing) enemies. Also on record as being genuinely, not-jokingly pro-rape, he was (predictably) heavily involved in GamerGate back in 2014, stalking and threatening game developer Zoe Quinn and making money off his newfound proto-alt-right fans in the process. Last year, he had MSNBC contributor Sam Seder fired thanks to a campaign that revolved around years-old joke tweets (although the network shortly reconsidered after Cernovich had been placed in context). Along with fellow anti-Gunn crusader Jack Posobiec, he was a loud proponent of the ludicrous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, itself invented to discredit the Clintons as members of a child sex ring. Even now, they’re trying to label actor and Trump critic Michael Ian Black as a pedophile simply because he tweeted about pizza. 

James Gunn’s Firing Sets A Worrying Precedent

Alt-right Internet abusers just scored a win.