Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, cast of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' write open letter supporting James Gunn

The cast of Guardians of the Galaxy wrote an open letter to fans announcing full support to James Gunn who was fired by Disney after his past tweet jokes about paedophilia and rape had surfaced online.

Chris Pratt who plays Peter Quill/Star-Lord and Zoe Saldana who plays Gamora, shared the letter on their social media handles. It is signed by Pratt, Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, and Michael Rooker.

"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 have been courage 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 who so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories around him," the letter began.

If you please, read the statement written and signed by The Guardians of the Galaxy cast in support of James Gunn’s reinstatement as director of GOTG Volume 3. pic.twitter.com/TjNA9RF6M8

— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 30, 2018

Disney fired Gunn on July 20 after those offensive tweets resurfaced. Apart from the GotG cast, actress Selma Blair has also been vocal about the director's dismissal. She urged her followers on Twitter to sign a Change.org petition asking for Gunn to be reinstated as director for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. So far over 330,000 people have signed the petition.

Both GotG movies combined have collected more than $1.3 billion at the box office.