James Gunn

A petition asking Disney/Marvel to rehire ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ director James Gunn has generated over 270,000 signatures.

Gunn was fired on July 20 after a Twitter activist uncovered disturbing tweets dating back to 2008. Some of the tweets were published by conservative blog, The Daily Caller.

Co-workers and fans of the director are calling for Disney to rehire him, despite his offensive tweets which included “jokes” about the Holocaust, pedophilia, overweight people and violence against women.

Over 271,000 people signed a petition asking Disney to rehire Gunn despite his troubling tweets.

“I’m smart enough to know this most likely won’t change anything,” wrote the petition author Chandler Edwards, “but hopefully, this could get Disney to realize the mistake they made and not do it again in the future.”

The petition was signed by actress Selma Blair and other actors who sympathize with Gunn.

In tweets before and after his termination last week, Gunn apologized and blamed his dry sense of humor.

Gunn was working on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ when he was fired. The ‘Guardians’ films have earned more than $1.6 billion, and attracted a fiercely loyal base of Marvel superhero fans.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images