Selma Blair quits Twitter in support of Guardians director James Gunn

Twitter just lost another one.

Actress Selma Blair has quit the social network in solidarity with Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn:

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The tweet — along with the Hellboy actress’ entire account — has since been deleted.

Previously, Blair had tweeted why she objected to Disney’s decision: “If people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones.”

The move comes on the heels of a backlash against Disney for caving in to a right-wing fringe campaign to get Gunn canned from the hit Marvel franchise’s third film due to a slew of grotesque shock jokes he tweeted nearly a decade ago. The move may not have worked out the way the studio expected, however, as 330,000 fans have signed a petition to rehire him, and columnists for sites like Vulture and The Hollywood Reporter have posted essays condemning the move as an anti-creative overstep that sends the wrong message.

Some members of the film franchise’ cast have also criticized the move, particularly Dave Bautista, who most recently threw out this ultra-shade:

Also, Chris McKay, director of The LEGO Batman Movie, deleted his Twitter account — though didn’t give a reason why, so it’s not at all clear if his move has anything to do with the Gunn controversy.

Twitter — along with Facebook — has been facing challenges balancing open access and free speech with maintaining an environment that isn’t a raging tire fire of misinformation and toxic behavior. Both social platforms have taken hits to their stock value recently amid softer-than-expected usage numbers — on Friday, Twitter reported losing 1 million users in its second quarter.

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