Disney has cut all ties with the mind behind Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn, who has been removed from the director/writer seat for GotG Vol. 3 (expected 2020.) The decision followed a recent dig-up of Gunn’s old twitter-jokes, in which the self-established provocateur referenced pedophilia and rape as parts of his punchlines.

Note: the tweets above come from 2008-2009 period.

Besides the news of Gunn exiting Guardians, the geek-celebrity icon will also miss a panel he was supposed to attend at the San Diego Comic-Con for an untitled horror film he directed for Sony.

Interestingly, Gunn’s old tweets, for which the celebrity has publicly apologized about 6 years ago, prior to directing the first Guardians film, were re-discovered by conservative, alt-right personalities. It is believed that the attack was caused due to Gunn’s outspoken criticism of Donald Trump, about whom the 51-year-old director tweets frequently.

Once the tweets were dug up, Gunn went on to hastily delete many of his old, offensive tweets, a fact revealed by his accidental post of his search request:

Gunn responded, tweeting, “In the past, I have apologized for humor of mine that hurt people. I truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies.” Gunn followed a series of tweets with the following: “I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don’t anymore. I don’t blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today.  Love to you all.”

The Twitter community equivocally responded to the news with criticism toward Disney’s decision. Gunn has since stated: “Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today,” he said, writes Variety. “Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.”