Dave Bautista has come out in defense of James Gunn following his firing from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The director behind the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise was recently fired by Disney over old tweets that date back to as long as ten years ago, but recently resurfaced and caused a great deal of controversy. The tweets, which Disney chairman Alan Horn described as "indefensible," covered a range of topics such as rape, 9/11 and the Holocaust. Despite that graphic nature of these tweets, Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is standing by Gunn.

James Gunn apologized for the tweets and took responsibility for what he said. He acknowledged that he's moved beyond the person he was at that time and hasn't tried to defend what was said in those statements. But the offensive content of those tweets caused a great deal of uproar and Disney fired James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Dave Bautista, in all likelihood, was set to be a part of that movie and, taking to Twitter, he proclaimed that he's not okay with Disney's decision. Here's what he had to say about it.

"I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving,caring,good natured people I have ever met. He's gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He's made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what's happening to him."

No other cast members from the franchise, at the time of this writing, have publically come out in defense of

James Gunn. However, there was a sizable section of social media that seemed to disagree with Disney's decision to fire the filmmaker over the tweets. That is, in part, because the statements were made so long ago and were addressed previously by Gunn in 2012. It's also, in part, due to the nature of how they were brought back up again. Conservative bloggers who disagree with Gunn's outspoken political views dug them up and, as a result, they started making the rounds again.

One question for Disney and Marvel Studios is how this might affect Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 moving forward. For one, James Gunn turned in the script recently and the movie is set to begin production in January. Would they fire him as director but still use his script? Probably not. That means the development process could be set back quite a bit. Plus, Dave Bautista clearly isn't happy. Assuming he was going to be part of the cast, it seems unlikely that he will happily jump on board with another director, given this statement. Disney could just write him out, but that might not go over so well. It's also unclear how other cast members such as Chris Pratt or Zoe Saldana feel. Not to mention that Sean Gunn, the filmmaker's brother, has been heavily involved in both of the previous movies.

This is, without a doubt, a complex situation. Disney is very much a family-oriented company and, given the public outcry against James Gunn's statements and the nature of those statements, they were put in an unenviable position. You can check out the statement from Dave Bautista's Twitter account for yourself below.