It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, where the clock hands are currently pointing, or the complexion of the weather; people are going to find new and enticing ways of trying to tear down DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn.
Having been branded as a Chinese sympathizer no more than a few days ago after celebrating Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 being awarded a release date in the country, the latest bad faith discourse has somehow seen the filmmaker branded as being racist over a deleted scene from The Suicide Squad.
In the footage that didn’t make the final cut of the R-rated box office bomb, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is being her typical eccentric self to some Corto Maltese locals. That’s pretty much all that happens, and if the comments and replies are any indication, it’s clear that the original tweet isn’t exactly garnering a groundswell of support.
James Gunn isn’t Zack Snyder – which of course goes without saying – but that’s comfortably more than enough to make him public enemy number one in the eyes of certain sections of the DCU fandom. There’s nothing wrong with the clip in question besides the fact it’s suitably bizarre and wouldn’t have added or detracted anything from the final cut of The Suicide Squad, but clutching at straws and then sharpening them into social media shivs is par for the course.
Incredibly, it’s not even the worst thing the Peacemaker creator’s critics tend to call him on Twitter, but we won’t be getting into that here.