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Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Is "On Hold Indefinitely," Says Dave Bautista

"I don't know if I want to work for Disney."

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Ever since director James Gunn was fired by Disney from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 back in July, Dave Bautista has been very vocal about his unhappiness with the situation. In a new interview, the actor, who plays Drax in the blockbuster Marvel movies, has not only restated that he might not return for Vol.3, but has also revealed that the movie is now on hold.

During an interview on the British talkshow The Jonathan Ross Show, Bautista was asked about whether the rumors that he might not appear in Vol.3 were true. "There's a bit of an issue," he said. "It's a bitter-sweet conversation. No, it's a bitter-bitter conversation because I'm not really happy with what they've done with James Gunn. They're putting the movie off. It's on hold indefinitely. To be honest with you I don't know if I want to work for Disney."

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Now Playing: Disney Won't Re-Hire James Gunn For Guardians 3 - Report - GameSpot Universe News Update

Ross went on to state that Bautista's frankness about the situation was unusual for a Hollywood star. "I've been very vocal about the way I feel," Bautista said. "I'm not afraid to admit the way I feel. I don't think I'm your typical Hollywood guy."

Gunn was fired after old tweets that saw the director joking about topics such as pedophilia and rape resurfaced online. The rest of the Guardians cast subsequently issued a joint statement in which they offered Gunn their support, but stopped short of demanding that he be rehired. Last month, star Chris Pratt described it as a "complicated situation" and stated that "we just want to move forward and do what's right and be the best people we can be."

It had been rumored that Marvel was pushing Disney to rehire Gunn. However, a recent report stated that although Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn met with Gunn, the studio is refusing to budge on the issue. While Guardian of the Galaxy Vol.3 was never officially given a release date, it was reportedly set to start production in February 2019 ahead of a 2020 release.

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Superthu

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Now anyone who even remotely jokes about sexual deviant behavior is a Pedophile? So if i say , that woman was so into me , she practically raped me. OMG guess everyone is gonna be a Pedophile that tells a bad joke involving sexual deviant behavior. Lawyer up before u tell a joke

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cejay0813

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Funny cause the Disney from a decade or two ago wasn't all innocent. What with the rampant racial stereotypes and hidden penises in all their movies. They're allowed to improve and evolve but I guess not anyone they hire.

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jMoore87

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So, who cares about the millions of kids that watch and enjoy the movies. Throw all of that away, in defense of a pedo. Hopefully, Bautista is never given a role like this again, he doesn't deserve the opportunity.

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CeltaVigo

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@jmoore87: anyone ever tell you a good "dead baby" joke?

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jMoore87

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@CeltaVigo: Nah, never heard a funny one.

@cejay0813: Maybe you can talk to your priest about it.

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cejay0813

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@jmoore87: Wait, James Gunn is a pedo now for a few unsavory jokes from a decade ago? Lol man America has really gone soft.... Embarrassingly flaccid I'd say

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streamline

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Edited By streamline

Disney wants to ban Gunn. Call the NRA for help. I literally mean call. If you write them, they will know you aren’t talking about guns.

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magji2000

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Edited By magji2000

To all you idiots that are anti Disney's decision to can Gunn you are idiots. It's their company and their right to hire and fire whoever they choose. If they think its a bad business decision to keep him then that's their decision to make, not yours. Its their money. Big deal he made them a lot of money, it wouldn't have happen if it wasn't for them giving him the opportunity to do so. The fact of the matter is this, you that disagree are only a small percentage of their paying audience. They have to think about the people that aren't ok with someone that thinks such content is OK. And guess what? Someone new can come in and do potentially better. He already set it up, its not hard at this point. So stop crying.

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cejay0813

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@magji2000: Funny because I haven't heard the viewpoint of the "non-idiots" who agree with what Disney did. Where are they?

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JediHeadband

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@magji2000: “To all you idiots, you’re idiots”

lol okay idiot

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HalfOfMe07

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Support Bautista all you want. But he, not Gunn, will be responsible for destroying this corner of the MCU. His role in this is self-absorbed and childish, and it will end his career. You do your job, or you don't.

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cejay0813

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@halfofme07: Childish is taking tweets from a decade ago and making them remotely relevant. But hey, I'm not on board with this whole social media generation. I've said some left field ish myself in my younger days in hopes of a laugh.

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MrGeezer

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Edited By MrGeezer

@cejay0813: And if your employer chooses to fire you over those comments, then they reserve that right. You're not required to agree with that decision, but the professional thing to do is to handle that dispute behind closed doors. And then when your termination is upheld, you shut your mouth about it, you move on, and get another job.

That's what James Gunn is doing, and he's the one who actually got fired. Dave Bautista, on the other hand, IS acting childish and unprofessional. He's publicly complaining about the termination, taking sides and criticizing his employer, and threatening to quit if he doesn't get his way. And he's not even the one who lost his job. That is the OPPOSITE of professionalism.

I hate to break it to you, but people get fired every day. And in the adult world, you deal with that stuff quietly, you move on and find another job. What you DON'T do is throw a public tantrum and go on social media to complain about how unfair it is. This is especially true since Bautista still has his job, which means that he's biting the hand that feeds him. If he feels so strongly about this that he has to undermine his employer, then he ought to be a man about it, quit, and then pay off whatever penalties he gets for violating his contract. Otherwise, the adult and professional thing to do here is to shut up, do his freaking job, and stop publicly criticizing his employer. James Gunn's termination was 100% justified, and it's not Bautista's job to approve of it. Disney doesn't have to check with Bautista before firing someone, just to make sure that Bautista is okay with it.

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Superthu

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@MrGeezer: Bautista isnt worried bout Disney's money ... and Apparently he doesn't give a sh** about their job. One of the few privileges of the independent is they can Voice themselves without giving two flying fooks what a potential employer will say or do. He's standing up for his friend & coworker... something 99% of Americans dont even do for themselves, let alone anyone else.

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s1taz4a3l

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I dont know, a lot of hate going to Disney but its James Gunn silence the thing that puzzle me most, specially after his photo from a party where he was disguised as a molester.

Am guessing Disney/Marvel have solid dirt on him once they started investigating hence why he didnt fight back or even said anything to defend himself other than the usual staged PR statement once the tweets where uncovered.

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quigonzel

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Edited By quigonzel

@s1taz4a3l: Not really much to say when you were hired by the company, owned up to the tweets beforehand and immediately apologized. Then you started working for this company for years. Creating insane revenue for them and then subsequently fired for the very thing you already apologized for years ago.

This isn't a case of being blindsided by these tweets on Disney's part, it's a case of being afraid of public backlash before it happens because apparently being offended in this day and age gives you real power if you can rally enough people to your cause. Which is why all of this happened.

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cejay0813

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@quigonzel: YEEEESSSSS. 2016-2018, where the USA can find a way to be offended by literally everything

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G-Corleone

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@quigonzel: I think this is the best comment I've ever read on Gamespot. I salute you.

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Bread_or_Decide

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@s1taz4a3l: Silence in 2018 is always the smartest thing to do.

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Richardthe3rd

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@rickjamesia: pretty much this. Gunn is making the strongest play he can given his options.

While I sympathize with Bautista, he needs to ask himself how much this fight will cost him and if hes willing to pay.

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Genji_Shimada

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For a company with old cartoons that have blatantly racist images and other subliminal messages Disney sure is hypocritical.

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Bread_or_Decide

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Edited By Bread_or_Decide

@genji_shimada: Yeah but they have buried them and put them out of circulation. Gunn should have deleted all his old tweets.

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Genji_Shimada

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@Bread_or_Decide:

That doesn't make it any better. Also today even if you delete a post it is saved on the internet somewhere and archived. Same with Disney's toons.

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Bread_or_Decide

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Edited By Bread_or_Decide

@genji_shimada: Normals are less likely to dig them up. And who had the foresight to save all of someone else’s tweets?

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straightcur

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James Gunn was very vocal about wanting this exact outcome for people that he disagrees with. That is the only reason i am ok with him being fired. Dont throw stones if you live in a glass house.

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aross2004

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@straightcur: This. So easy to point the finger at everyone except Gunn.

He was part of the Troma team in the past for chrissakes, of course he did shit just for shock value.

Well, guess what? Someone was shocked. Go figure...

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Yomigaeru

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@aross2004: My issue is that Disney had to have known all that when they hired. Surely, a corporation as massive and prolific as Disney runs extensive background checks on anyone they bring onboard. They likely hired him knowing all this, and fired him when it became public.

They should have never hired him in the first place for this precise reason.

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straightcur

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@Yomigaeru: Just because the person at Marvel may have known about his past, it doesnt mean that it made it all the way to the top of Disney. I doubt they care about the day to day hiring and put trust in their division managers. But when it becomes a problem that affects their brand and makes headlines, then the big wigs see it. I'm sure there were many questions to the people that did the hiring.

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magji2000

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@Yomigaeru: They don't, most businesses don't at least not of this content. They probably did a criminal one but i hardly think that someone spent the time to go over his old tweets before hiring. Background stuff such as this is still new territory.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@magji2000: "They don't, most businesses don't at least not of this content."

As someone actually familiar with corporate hiring practises...you're dead wrong. The higher profile a position you're acquiring, especially with regards to family friendly products, the deeper the background check. In fact, some companies will refuse to hire you if you don't have any kind of online profile to check.

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quigonzel

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@Yomigaeru: They already knew about these tweets before even hiring him. He even apologized for them years ago.

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MrGeezer

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@quigonzel: You want to give us a link establishing that? I've seen a lot of people here making that claim, and so far not a single person has been able to provide any evidence that Disney knew about the tweets.

That really doesn't seem to make sense either. That Disney knew about the tweets years ago, and somehow didn't have him delete the tweets. It makes far more sense that they just didn't know about the tweets at all.

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G-Corleone

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@MrGeezer: brilliant. You've said it all. Perfect sense.

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Jinzo_111887

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These posts are very old right? If he's stopped doing that thing since, it should be taken as a sign that he's become more mature since then.

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ClunkerSlim

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It's not like Guardians 2 was all that great. This film can only benefit from spending an extra year in the cooker. And Bautista definitely misspoke, there's no way the film is on hold "indefinitely."

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Nabinator

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Edited By Nabinator

@ClunkerSlim: Guardians 2 was about half as good as the first, imo, so James Gunn obviously ain't all that. Also, I remember you Clunker from the gfaq transformer boards, lol

The real threat to this film is losing Drax at this stage.

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ClunkerSlim

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@nabinator: lol

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Bread_or_Decide

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@ClunkerSlim: A clunky film, all

Story no plot. Great ending though.

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straightcur

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@ClunkerSlim: Guardians could use a fresh set of eyes. 2 was one of the worst films i've ever seen. Also, Guardians storyline is pretty much concluded with Infinity Was anyways, so it can go away and Marvel can move on without issue.

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cejay0813

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Edited By cejay0813

@straightcur: Many people loved 2. Don't assume something needs a "fresh pair of eyes" because YOU thought it was crap. Lol last I checked it's still around 88% on Rotten Tomatoes

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straightcur

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@cejay0813: LOL Super defensive much for something you had no part of. I was giving my opinion obviously. I'm sorry if i hurt your feelings.

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cejay0813

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@straightcur: You seem to think you hurt peoples feelings by your opinion.... Lol no wonder you think we should all think like you. I know you deeply feel this way but NEWS FLASH, no one cares about your opinion and you're not important in the slightest.

Hence what I pretty much said in my first post. Reading comprehension ftw!!! Lmao

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straightcur

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Edited By straightcur

@cejay0813: Are you still triggered by this? Sorry, i didnt mean to cause so much heartache. Marvel is the greatest and can do no wrong. There, fixed it for you. Breath easy friend, everything will be ok.

I thank you for being so interested in my opinion that you share yours.

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Nabinator

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@straightcur: You're forgetting Avengers 4 is coming, which was filmed long before any of this drama came about. Guardians won't be staying dead

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straightcur

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@nabinator: Not forgetting about Avengers 4. But whatever happens, it is the end of their story line. Im sure there were plans for a new story. All im saying is this story is coming to an end which gives Marvel an easy way out if they want.

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ryuburger

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@straightcur: One of the worst filme you’ve ever seen!? I take it you consider Highlander 2: Battlefield Earth, Ecks Vs Sever, Baby Geniuses 2, Zombeavers and Movie 43 to be of higher quality?

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straightcur

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@ryuburger: You can name 100 bad movies, it doesnt change my opinion that it is "one of" the worst ive seen. I'm sorry that i insulted you by having a different opinion than you. Too much time in your echo chamber perhaps?

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Heazie

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Edited By Heazie

@ryuburger:

Maybe he does. Or maybe he just hasn't seen those?

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