In the aftermath of James Gunn being fired by Disney from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, many Marvel fans have had to ask themselves some serious questions about the director's behavior and their responses to offensive jokes he made on Twitter. The cast of the film have also been struggling to deal with the situation, as they are forced to show their allegiance to the characters, fans, and studio or stick by Gunn. Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt recently reiterated that he hopes Gunn can be reinstated as a director and the difficult situation he and his co-stars have found themselves in.

“It’s not an easy time. We all love James and he’s a good friend of ours, but we also really love playing the Guardians of the Galaxy," Pratt shared with the AP. "It’s a complicated situation for everybody. And you know, we just want to move forward and do what’s right and be the best people we can be.”

Gunn was one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most active filmmakers on social media, sharing everything from his mundane day-to-day routine to Marvel Easter eggs to political comments. After sharing negative comments about Donald Trump, alt-right bloggers dug through Gunn's old tweets and brought jokes about rape and pedophilia from the filmmaker's past to the surface.

Within days, Disney parted ways from the filmmaker, which coincided with San Diego Comic-Con being in full swing.

“I love going to Comic-Con but I ended up not doing a lot of interviews around that time just because it was so shocking," Pratt noted. "All I know is we put a lot of time, thought and effort into the statement that we released about it. And I think we all kind of want that statement to be essentially what we have to say about it. And we were pretty clear and honest about how we feel.”

That statement, which was endorsed by Pratt and co-stars Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, and many more, read, "We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week 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 the 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."

It added, "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 digital 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. Thank you for taking the time to read our words."

Recent reports claim that Disney still aims to move forward with the upcoming film utilizing Gunn's script and potentially a new director, though fan outcry and support from the series' cast and crew could see a compromise in the future.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is slated to be released in 2020.

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[H/T AP]